The Other Side of This Life
by Eanna Malkavia
Summary: Outside BAU, Spencer Reid has a long term girlfriend named Hannah. He is the love of her life. Outside BAU, Aaron Hotcher is joyful, fun and has a thing for Hannah. It's mutual, yet both forbid their relationship from crossing that line. Hannah has rules for her open relationship with Spencer, and Aaron could violate it. Aaron won't, because of Haley. Behind the scenes of each epi
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER: CBS owns all Criminal Minds characters. All OC characters, Hannah, Matthew, and their family, are mine.**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is a re-publish. It was originally called _Life is Messy but Love is Messier_. I wasn't happy with it so I did a major overhaul and re-write. If you read the previous version, you'll notice big changes. Certain details have been altered or completely removed. I hope everyone likes the new story. I'm happier with it. Thank you and please review! Also, I had to alter where Hannah's family is from - San Francisco (bare with me please!)**

_Prologue_

Spencer Reid and Hannah Darrow met at a fraternity party at Stanford when they were seventeen. Hannah's best friend, twenty-two year old Jenna, accompanied her while Spencer's friend Paul dragged him to the party to show people his magic tricks. Spencer didn't regret it. He met Hannah.

He first spotted her when she breezed in behind Jenna. Hannah looked like a sea goddess in her blue and green dress. Spencer turned away before she looked his way, too nervous to even smile at her. When she glanced at him, Hannah saw the deck of cards in his hand and his watch over his sleeve. She knew what the eccentricity meant; a trait of a gifted mind. Hannah always picked up on what people said and did. Her parents, famous psychologists, taught all eight of their kids how to observe and analyze. She made a mental note to track down the guy with the watch over his sleeve later.

Hannah stumbled upon him as they both stared at the alcohol bottles. Spencer studied the alcohol volumes; Hannah contemplated outright theft of a bottle of rum. That idea vanished the moment she looked up and saw Spencer, his hair disheveled and a watch over his sleeve.

She grabbed his hand and led him up to the roof to see the stars. Two minutes later their legs dangled over the roof ledge. They talked astronomy, mythology, Star Wars and Star Trek, classes, friends, literature and psychology until the party dispersed and the guy who lived under their ledge told them to get off his roof. Their conversation continued in whispers as they dashed out of the fraternity. They wandered campus for a half hour, looked up as the sun rose, then headed for the nearest apartment, Hannah's, just a few blocks off campus.

Before they arrived Hannah explained her roommate situation. She lived with her oldest brother, Don. So long as Hannah checked in with him around breakfast, lunch, and dinner, refrained from sex until she turned eighteen and alcohol until her twenty-first birthday, and did her homework, he didn't pry and he let her enjoy her freedom away from their parents. In exchange for this, she let him stay over at his girlfriend Tracy's apartment as much as he wanted and lied to their parents about what each of them did. Her twin brother Matthew, still in high school in San Francisco, helped them out each time he warned them of a surprise visit.

After her explanation, Spencer didn't want to go to her place, until she explained Don made plans with his girlfriend for the whole weekend.

Almost two months later, they moved in together, less than a month after Spencer's eighteenth birthday on the ninth of October, and the night before Hannah's eighteenth birthday on Halloween.

They also agreed on an open relationship before they started to look for apartments.

Their relationship worked, and flourished. They didn't see their relationship as an obstacle, but as opportunity. Spencer's work required he travel often, and even though he don't know how to flirt with woman not his girlfriend, he always had the chance to try it out. Also, Hannah could not handle or even participate in a monogamous relationship, despite her love for Spencer.

Of their entire extended family, just Hannah and Matthew sought out, crafted, and maintained multiple relationships. The open relationship fascinated Spencer from a psychological viewpoint. He and Matthew's girlfriend Allison loved Matthew and Hannah and didn't see the arrangement as wrong, but enjoyed it. Allison saw other people too. Spencer felt too much like a nervous idiot to try.

Hannah and Matthew's parents on the other hand found the twins relationship arrangements very strange and asked all four of them very personal questions. When asked about it themselves, Hannah and Matthew kept it simple and said that they loved many people. Spencer understood that. Allison understood that and lived it too. Even Spencer's team understood the dynamics of their relationship better than her parents did.

Aaron Hotchner could quote Hannah's relationship rules off the top of his head. Spencer suspected he knew why his bossmemorized them, and why he repeated them. The first rule Hannah followed stated no sexual relationships with married men, unless they participated in an open marriage or received permission from their wife to date Hannah. Her second rule mirrored the first; no dating men already dating another woman, unless given permission by the girlfriend. The third rule dictated communication to the primary relationship, Spencer, about whom Hannah saw and when, how and when the relationship ended and why. Spencer even had permission to run background checks on Hannah's other relationships, as well as Allison's and Matthew's. Her brother and his girlfriend followed the same rules. No one got hurt.

But Hannah and Matthew still held secrets.


	2. Extreme Aggressor

**Disclaimer: CBS owns all Criminal Minds characters. Hannah is my character.**

**Author's Note: Thanks for reading the prologue and reading on! This story is challenging and yes, this is the third time I have taken it down and re-posted it. Sorry bout that. Some chapters will be quite short, but others could be quite long. Please keep reading and please review!**

Chapter 1

**Extreme Aggressor**

Spencer woke up before dawn when his girlfriend Hannah stole the blankets off him. She peeked out from beneath them and smiled. Spencer's stomach did that butterfly thing. Her smile always did that to him.

Everyone who met Hannah fell in a kind of love with her smile. Her joyful personality and good looks helped too. Blue eyed, tan, five feet eight inches, and brunette, Hannah looked good in the simplest outfit. Sometimes Spencer didn't understand why or how she fell in love with him.

Hannah tossed the blankets off, then her top. Spencer followed with his own t-shirt. For the next several minutes they kissed, caressed and undressed each other.

Half an hour later, Spencer and Hannah disentangled and lay in each others arms while they caught their breath.

"I love you." They both said at once.

Neither of them ever called jinx when it happened on an 'I love you'.

Well after the sun came up and they should have gotten out of bed, Spencer stepped into the shower while Hannah floated down the stairs of their townhouse and raided the fridge. After ten minutes, Spencer walked into the kitchen dressed for work in a sweater vest Hannah bought him. He sniffed the air and grinned.

Hannah loved to cook. Reid loved that about her. He also loved the fact that she put up with his social ineptitude. In social rituals she always knew when he needed out of a situation or a room. Few people created better escapes from parties than Hannah.

They sat down and ate in silence. No one ever talked once they dug into one of Hannah's meals, not until it all vanished.

Spencer washed the dishes once they finished. As he rinsed, Hannah snaked her arms around his waist and kissed the back of his neck. Hannah alone knew about that spot. He turned and kissed her on the lips, then he kissed her forehead.

She loved that gesture.

They parted ways on the sidewalk in front of their stoop. Hannah glanced back first. Spencer reached the corner before he glanced back, just as Hannah turned and vanished around her corner.

* * *

Spencer walked into the townhouse and heard loud rock music in the dining room. He found Hannah at the table with school papers spread across the surface and her ipod hooked into the music port. She looked up and smiled at him as she wrote up a grocery list. The school papers lay untouched.

Hannah taught graduate level literature courses at Georgetown. She aced all her subjects in school, graduated high school at fifteen, loved literature more than any other subject, and earned two Ph.D's in literature.

"What's wrong?" Hannah's smile faded as she sensed his discomfort.

"We're going back into the field. Seattle. Now.**"**

Her face shifted into that intense look she wore while on a role, writing long into the night. Not disappointment, but determination and resolve. Hannah knew what Spencer's work with the FBI in the BAU entailed, and helped him get through the Academy and onto the team. He still didn't know all the details, but he suspected it involved her friendship with Aaron Hotchner that started not long before his graduation.

"Go catch the sonofabitch." Hannah said with a smile as she stood, draped her arms over his shoulders, and kissed him.

Two minutes later, his go bag in hand, Spencer turned around as he opened the front door, crossed the foyer to Hannah, and gave her a tender kiss on the lips.

"I love you, Hannah."

"I love you, Spencer."

They gazed at each other for a few more seconds before Spencer kissed her forehead, then departed.


	3. Compulsion

**Disclaimer: CBS owns Criminal Minds and its characters. Hannah is my character.**

**Author's Note: The first few chapters will resemble the previous versions, but with some parts missing. I'm trying to make this flow better and I have a clearer idea of where this is going. Please review!**

Chapter 2

**Compulsion**

Things became complicated after Spencer returned home from Seattle. Spencer hid his feelings from his team about their cases and the unsubs they chased, but Hannah always saw the aftermath. It didn't matter how well he hid those feelings, Hannah still read him like a book. Spencer acted different. He held her like a glass doll when they made love. It drove her crazy.

Hannah recognized these symptoms. Sexual assault cases troubled him. He thought not all men act like monsters and so he acted as though he could make up for those monsters. It happened before, after every sexual abuse case Spencer ever worked, but it frightened Hannah. She feared one day he might lose himself to his personal demons and his work demons, and she never wanted to lose the wonderful, nerdy, awkward Spencer Reid that Hannah fell in love with the night they met. Hannah felt blessed with Spencer, but he worried her.

She worried that someday something very drastic would happen and turn Spencer into someone else. Hannah feared that day and resolved she would never let him go over the deep end. More FBI agents suffered from burnout than those who escaped it, more so in the BAU.

After one too many drinks at Aaron's team and family barbeque, Hannah let loose all her anxieties and picked a fight.

"I hate what the field does to you! You bring it home with you. I know you try not to, but you do."

"How do I bring it home?"

"Ever since you got back from Seattle, you've treated me like a victim!"

"No I haven't."

"You've been acting like I'm made of glass." Hannah turned around and pointed at him. "After every rape case you work, you do it. And you keep doing it until another case takes the place of that nightmare. I love you, Spencer, and I know how critical your work is, but right now the BAU is driving me mad!"

Spencer stood frozen for a moment.

"Do you want me to transfer?"

"No! I don't want you to transfer. You do important work. I want you to stop shutting me out. I want you to talk to me, include me, not leave me to figure out what the hell happened out in the field by reading you and your actions."

"You want me to talk to you about my cases?"

"Yes, if that's what you need to do so you can talk to me about what's troubling you."

"No! Absolutely not. I won't have you psychoanalyzing me."

Hannah crossed her arms.

"Who the hell said anything about psychoanalysis, because I certainly didn't. Damn it Spencer, you can't shut me out forever!"

"Hannah, I'm trying to protect you!"

"Stop! I don't want that. I know what's out there in the world and I can handle it."

"No, you can't."

"Well thank you very much for making me fell like a fucking five year old!"

"Hannah, I didn't mean it like that."

"Yes you did!"

"I don't want to argue with you right now. You had too many drinks at the barbeque tonight and you're drunk."

"You always avoid a fight by saying I'm drunk. Stop it."

"Because you want to fight when you get too drunk!"

"That is not true!"

"We will continue discussing this in the morning."

"Fine!"

As he followed her up the stairs he noticed she walked past their bedroom, and headed straight for their guest bedroom. She slept there when they fought.

"You're going to sleep in the guest bedroom?"

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"I'm too angry to sleep next to you!" Hannah slammed the door behind her.

The next morning, Hannah slipped out before Spencer even woke up, a common occurrence after a fight. On her door he found a note:

_I'm not asking for the gory details, just that you talk to me. I'm here for you, but are you here for me? If you think this is protecting me, then you don't know me as well as you think you do. Just ask Aaron. I've been listening to his troubles about these cases since you joined the team. He didn't even have to ask. I told him I would listen, which is exactly what I told you when you went into the FBI, but you seem to have forgotten that. I'm not fragile Spencer. I can handle a lot more than anyone thinks I can. - I love you. Hannah_

He put the note in his bag, and left the house fifteen minutes later. On the way to work, Spencer ran various apologies and conversations through his head, but before he could apologize to Hannah, a new case and a firebug whisked the team to Arizona.

* * *

Aaron waited until the rest of the team nodded off on the plane before he sat down across from Spencer.

"What's going on with you and Hannah?"

"Did she tell you about our fight?"

"No. I last talked to her at the barbeque. I know something happened between you because I see it weighing on you."

"She wants me to talk to her about the cases instead of shutting her out. And she left me this."

Spencer pulled the note out of his satchel and handed it over. As he watched Aaron read it, he watched for micro-expressions.

"I love how to the point she is." Aaron said with a grin. "Talk to her. Open up to her. She can handle it."

"What if Hannah can't handle it?"

"She would have talked you out of joining the BAU instead of supporting you. Reid, Hannah's always there for you. Make the same effort. Talk to her about the cases. She wants to give you a healthy way to unload."

"That's healthy? Talking with her about what we see and what we deal with?"

"Reid, Hannah's much stronger than you give her credit for. Remember, I've met her parents too."

Spencer laughed. He loved Hannah's parents, but their odd way of preparing their children for the real world unnerved him. Hannah and her siblings called it 'Scare Tactics'. They watched films about drug abuse, eating disorders, runaway teens and teen pregnancy before high school, and toured treatment centers. Their psychologist parents worked with patients traumatized by various kinds of abuse and never wanted their kids to go down those dangerous paths, so they gave them reality checks wherever and whenever possible.

"Why didn't Hannah tell me before now that you talk to her about the cases?"

"I assumed you already knew. Hannah never said anything..." Aaron closed his eyes and shook his head. "She never said anything to either confirm or deny that belief. I'm sorry Reid. Hannah and I have steered clear of discussing anything private about you and Haley, so I thought that'swhy she never brought it up."

"What does she say when you talk to her about the cases?"

Aaron stayed quite for a whole minute while he thought about what he would say next.

"Hannah is insanely gifted in psychology. She's more than handled anything I've told her; she's helped me when the cases threatened to drive me over the edge. I would put her on the team, except for the fact that I fear she would execute the unsubs."

"I noticed that when I started at the Academy and talked to her about what we studied in class. That's part of the reason I stopped talking to her about this."

"I've been talking to her about everything, so you might as well. Trust me when I say this, it will help."

Head back on the rest, Spencer watched Aaron for a few seconds.

"Okay. I'll talk to her."


	4. Wont Get Fooled Again

**Disclaimer: CBS owns Criminal Minds. Hannah is my original character.**

**Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I'll try and get chapters up every other day or at least once a week. Please review and feel free to private message me if you want to chat. Oh, and I forgot in previous chapters to note where one scene ends and another begins, that should be fixed now.**

Chapter 3

**Won't Get Fooled Again**

Spencer followed through and opened up to Hannah. He told her about Seattle, Arizona, Boston, and even went all the way back to his first case on the team. He even spoke about a few he consulted on or observed while at the Academy. Once he started, he couldn't stop. The release of all those pent up thoughts, feelings, and emotions felt good. Hannah listened the way her parents taught her and helped him heal those old wounds he hid from her for so long. She handled the entire conversation rather well in Spencer's opinion.

* * *

"Hannah, I'm back from Florida!" Spencer stopped in the foyer and listened for any noise in the still house. "Hannah?"

The faint sound of running water sent him upstairs, with the idea of slipping into their shower with her, but when Spencer heard her crying he walked right in and pulled the curtain back. Hannah sat in the tub, arms wrapped around her legs, face buried in her knees. Spencer turned off the water and wrapped her up in a towel. She looked up at him when he cupped her chin.

"Hannah, what's wrong?"

"It's Lily."

Lily. Hannah's four year old niece from her twin brother Matthew and his long term girlfriend Allison. One of the few children Spencer didn't freak out, and the one niece or nephew who didn't take any time warming up to him. She called him Uncle Pence. Lily didn't understand his and Hannah's complicated relationship. At her age, Lily didn't care.

"What happened?"

"She has leukemia."

"When did you find out?"

"At school today. Matthew called from New York. Allison called him after she took Lily to the doctor in Miami. Ally noticed some bruises on Lily that she got playing on the beach that wouldn't go away. I need to go down this weekend. If she needs a bone marrow transplant, I need to get tested. And Lily needs me. There's a flight tomorrow morning I can catch. My department dean told me to call if I need some days off next week."

"You think you'll stay down there past the weekend?"

"I think I might." Hannah stopped in the middle of her sentence and swallowed before she continued. "I think I might have to postpone your birthday. I'm so sorry."

"It's just one birthday, Hannah. Go see Lily. She needs you right now more than I do."

"You can come with me to Miami. Just for the weekend. I'll make sure you're back by Monday. Lily would love to see you. Please come. It will make her feel so much better. And we can celebrate your birthday a few days early."

"The weather is nice in Florida."

Spencer smiled when he saw Hannah perk up.

She looked much happier than she did a few minutes ago. So happy in fact that she pulled Spencer into the shower with her.

* * *

Aaron sent a joint text to both Hannah and Spencer, wishing them luck that the doctors find a match soon for Lily. After Hannah read it, she sent a thank you back and assured him he would see Reid in the office on Monday.

The airport shops created a giddy feeling in Spencer, like a kid in a candy store as he searched for the perfect gift for Lily. Hannah followed him and commented on the possible gifts while Spencer kept track of every toy on every shelf in every store, their price, and their usefulness.

"Ally said Lily's obsessed with monkeys and gorillas right now." Hannah said twenty minutes in. "We should get her an orangutan or something. She'll love that."

"I don't remember seeing one. What kind of primate should we get her?"

"The Mandrill Baboon. The one with the colorful face."

"Wouldn't that scare her?"

"No. It's Rafiki from Lion King. He's her favorite character." Hannah stopped, turned a full three sixty, and saw in all the stores in sight. "We'll have to wait until we get to Miami. I don't think Reagan has the kind of shop we're looking for."

"I know!" With the goofiest smile she'd ever seen on him, Spencer said, "We could give her you!"

"Wow." Hannah stopped in her tracks and stared sideways at him. "Spencer Reid, did you just crack a bad joke?"

"It wasn't that bad!"

"It wasn't that great either. Or original. Remember, a good joke is well crafted."

"I'll work on that. We should take her to the zoo and get her a stuffed animal monkey there." Spencer corrected himself. "Baboon."

"Yes! Today. First thing." Hannah smiled and put her arm through Spencer's before she rested her head on his shoulder. "Thank you for coming with me Spencer."

"We don't see Lily enough."

Spencer knew how many days, but didn't remind Hannah of the number.

"No. No we don't." She grasped his hand in her own and lead them back through the crowd towards their departure gate.


	5. Plain Sight

**Disclaimer: CBS owns Criminal Minds. All original characters are mine.**

**Author's Note: Sorry I didn't post in a few days. I've had a crazy week and when I could breathe again I realized this chap was ready a couple days ago but I forgot about it. Here it is now. Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

**Plain Sight**

Lily gave her uncle Pence the best birthday present ever, a bucketful of seashells. After the zoo and the Rafiki stuffed animal, Lily insisted they visit this beautiful little beach her dad found the last time he visited. Of course, her directions would have put them in the sea between Florida and Cuba if they followed them so Hannah called Matthew for help while Spencer distracted Lily with ice cream.

The beach looked beautiful. So did Hannah in the new bikini that Spencer bought her. He walked through a couple of shops until he found it and some board shorts, along with a nerdy t-shirt that cracked up Hannah. The joke on it sailed far over Lily's head. He also wore plenty of waterproof sunscreen. Morgan wouldn't let him hear the end of it if he burned.

All in all, a good weekend, except when Lily brought up all the children in the cancer ward with bald heads. The thought of losing her shiny gold hair freaked the hell out of her. When they couldn't distract her with soft or shiny things, or the idea of her dad at home for a few months instead of a few days, Spencer and Hannah spent all their time reassuring Lily that her hair would grow back. When that didn't work, Hannah told her she could have all the wigs she wanted. Red, black, brown, blonde, even purple or green. Once Hannah said pink, Lily became excited. She wanted that pink wig now. They settled with dyeing her natural hair pink. After the girls reappeared from the bathroom, Spencer studied the result and admitted Lily pulled the color off quite well.

* * *

Sunday afternoon, Spencer and Hannah lounged on the backyard hammock while Ally and Lily napped. They all decided Spencer shouldn't leave until the morning, so they could spend more time together.

"Does the rest of the family know yet?" Spencer said after he brushed Hannah's hair off his chin.

"Matthew called them. They're all getting tested." Hannah traced the outline of a valentine over Spencer's heart before she spoke again. "I've decided I'm staying through next week."

"Okay."

"I'm going to give you a relatively odd birthday present."

"Relatively odd?"

"Yes. Promise me that you'll try one thing for me."

"What?"

"Ask someone out on a date. Someone meaning not me." Before Spencer could interrupt Hannah said, "Let me explain. You've never asked anyone out. Try it. Go on a date. Experience a date with someone besides me."

"How do I ask someone out?"

"Just use the words I used when we got kicked off that frat house roof. Do you want to go on a date?"

"What will I do on this date?"

"Dinner and a movie always works."

"Why do you want me to ask someone else out?"

"Because for reasons Matthew and I don't even understand ourselves, we like seeing more than one person, and you and Allison have always been fine with that, but you're the only one who doesn't see other people. Allison sees other people, but you don't. Spencer, don't you want to explore relationships with other women?"

"I'm not comfortable with other women."

"Will you please try it? Promise me you'll do it."

"Okay, I'll ask someone out on a date."

* * *

Monday morning Spencer stopped by his apartment, dropped off his bags, changed for work, and laid out the seashells in a shallow hot bath since he hadn't cleaned them back in Florida. He worried that the TSA wouldn't let him take them on the plane, so Hannah packed them in the bag that would go in the belly of the aircraft. Lily demanded he promise to name every single shell, and Hannah promised him a list of good names so he could concentrate on work.

As soon as he saw Reid, Hotch asked about Lily. He'd met her when she and Ally stopped for a night in DC last year while on their way to New York to visit Matthew. When Hotch learned of her cancer diagnosis the previous week, he offered Reid a few days off, but Reid declined. He knew Hannah needed a lot of alone time with Lily, and he didn't feel comfortable in the Florida heat.

"Lily's okay for now. She gave me seashells for me birthday and we dyed her hair pink."

"Pink?"

"Yes. She wants a pink wig when she loses all her hair from the chemo." Reid said, "Hannah and Iboth tested to see if we can donate bone marrow, and the rest of the family will do the same."

"Good. I hope everything goes as well for Lily."

"Thanks Hotch. How's Haley?"

"Hormonal. It's interesting, to say the least."

"The pregnant female body is fascinating. I remember when Allison was pregnant with Lily, she would-"

"Reid, I know." Hotch cut him off in his final voice. "I live with one."

Reid nodded and stopped talking about pregnant women.

* * *

Since Hannah made him promise to do it, and Spencer suspected she conspired with Gideon, he went through with it and asked JJ out. And after the speed at which JJ said yes, Spencer suspected she knew about the agreement too. Not that he minded.

When he asked JJ out it felt good, but a bit weird too. He felt comfortable with Hannah whereas he couldn't help but feel nervous around other women. He did have a crush on JJ, but never told Hannah. Spencer knew she suspected.

Spencer found football fascinating, from a mathematics and statistics view point, and he found JJ's presence a comfort in large crowds. While he found the game fun and JJ a pleasant companion, Spencer missed Hannah, and wanted her back home.


	6. Broken Mirror

**Disclaimer: CBS owns Criminal Minds. Hannah is my character.**

**Author's Note: Thanks for still reading! I hope you like the story. Please review. Also, I'm giving you a special treat this weekend...**

Chapter 5

**Broken Mirror**

When Hannah's plane arrived, Spencer met her at the gate with a surprise; pictures he'd just developed from his football date with JJ, proof he fulfilled his promise.

Hannah flipped through them as Spencer studied her micro-expressions. She liked what she saw, and when she finished, Hannah opened Spencer's satchel, slipped the photographs inside, then stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. He helped her out, leaned down a bit, and surprised her when he wrapped his arms around her. Her toes just touched the ground, but Spencer supported her.

The kiss she gave him went deeper than any kiss they'd shared in awhile, but when Spencer held her like she might break, that's when Hannah sensed it. She ended the kiss, lowered her feet back to the ground, and stepped back. Spencer looked at her, confused.

"Hannah, what's wrong?"

"What case did you just work in the field?"

The kind she hated. Spencer knew he'd slipped up with the way he held her, so he lied.

"Home invasions in San Diego."

"Don't call a rape a home invasion and expect me to buy it Spencer. Damn it, you know I hate it when you treat me like a glass doll after these cases!"

"What do you want me to do Hannah? What do you want me to say? I'm sorry?" Spencer grabbed her as she turned away and pulled her against his chest. "I love you Hannah, and you're the only woman I've ever loved. I see the dark side of something so special and I could never imagine hurting you."

"Just when I want to be angry with you, you say something like that and sound like a poet and a prince." Hannah said into his chest. "A stupid poet and an annoying prince, but my poet and my prince."

"What do you mean?" Spencer said as he tried not to laugh at her rant.

"It means I can't stay mad at you." Hannah lifted her head off his chest and looked Spencer in the eyes. "But don't mistake mad with upset, because I'm still upset."

"I can change that. Wait until you hear the other surprise I have for you."

"What surprise?"

"Will you go out with me?"

Though she tried not to, Hannah couldn't help but grin.

"Spencer Reid, are you asking me out on a date?"

"Yes."

"When can we have this date?"

"Is tonight too soon?"

"Tonight is perfect, but if Aaron calls you in, I'll kick his ass."

"He won't. I told him about tonight and he said if a case comes up it can wait until the morning."

* * *

The whole night turned Hannah on. Spencer picked up on that and got her home as soon as possible. The moment the front door of their townhouse closed behind them, Hannah pushed him against the wall and kissed him as she tore his clothes off. Spencer did the same to her as they made their way up the stairs. A minute later they closed the bedroom door, their clothes left in a path from the front door.

* * *

When Spencer came home in the middle of the night from Iowa, he walked straight into the coffee table and woke up Hannah. The light in the bedroom blinked on and Spencer heard the distinct sound of a hammer cocking back on a gun.

"Spencer? Please tell me that's you."

"Yeah, it's me, you can put the gun away."

"Why didn't you turn on the light when you opened the door?" Hannah turned on the hallway light for him and another one in the living room as she joined him.

Spencer stood where he stopped and stared at the table.

"That table was not there when I left for work."

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you I did some rearranging. How did the case wrap up?"

"The unsub has erotomania, and he wanted both identical sisters, but we caught him and found the girl."

"Erotomania?" Hannah shivered and accepted Spencer's embrace as she whispered into his chest. "God that's scary."

With psychologist parents who shared horror stories from patients and scared their children on tours of rehab centers and institutions so they could keep them on the straight and narrow, Hannah and her siblings didn't have average fears. Sure they possessed some normal phobias among them, heights, spiders, bees, rats and the like, but also the fear of certain disorders that tore so many people apart. For Hannah, abusive, possessive men, and the obsession created out of love became one of her greatest fears. Erotomania scared the hell out of her.

"Don't worry." Spencer knew a light tease would snap her out of her dark thoughts and said, "I'm not obsessed with you."

"That's good to know, because if you were I'd have to tell you I have a gun and I know how to use it." Hannah teased back.

She spoke of the beautiful revolver her grandfather gave her on her eighteenth birthday, the same gun she cocked upstairs when she heard Spencer crash through the dining room.

"You still sleep with the gun under the pillow when I'm gone?"

"And in the bed stand when you're home. Are you coming to bed? The gun isn't beneath your pillow right now. It's on it, but I'll move it."

"I'll be up in a few minutes." Spencer looked around the living room and dining room area. "Why did you rearrange?"

"I had some students over."

"For what?"

At two o'clock in the morning and startled out of a good dream, the question sounded stupid and annoyed her, so Hannah rolled her eyes, a gesture Spencer caught, and gave the most sarcastic response she could think of.

"Dinner, Spencer. Didn't you know you're dating a cannibal? Check the fridge for leftovers. Help yourself, but hands off my breasts." Hannah clapped a hand over her mouth as her eyes widened. "That was awful. Where did that joke even come from? What is wrong with me?"

She fled up the stairs as Spencer laughed.

"You get really sarcastic and tell inappropriate jokes when you're tired."

"Thank you Captain Obvious!" Hannah said from the staircase. "Turn off the lights as you come to bed."

"What did you and your students do?"

"We watched The Chronicles of Narnia from the BBC. Good night!"

Spencer loved her warped, middle of the night sense of humor, and the fact that it embarrassed her when she said things like that. He yelled up the stairs.

"I love you Hannah!"

The sound of her footsteps stopped, and a few seconds later she whispered back, the smile present in her voice.

"I love you too Spencer."

The giggle that followed sent Spencer straight up the stairs and into the bedroom. Hannah giggled again when he caught her around the waist.


	7. LDSK

**Disclaimer: CBS owns all Criminal Minds characters, but Hannah is my character.**

**Author's Note: ...a second chapter for the weekend! Now that I have established Hannah and Spencer's relationship, it's time to get into Hannah's relationship with Aaron. Enjoy;**

Chapter 6

**L.D.S.K.**

The quiet under the gun range headphones felt like fresh air and warm sunshine after the crazy day Hannah worked through at Georgetown. Her students didn't help. They sat through their classes with the collective attention span of a house cat on catnip.

She hadn't smoked a joint since the day after she earned her second doctorate degree. Matthew surprised her with it, but their parents caught them and told her professors couldn't smoke marijuana. They told Matthew he couldn't share his medicinal pot with his sister anymore, then disappeared back inside the house. They let him smoke pot because it kept his anxiety levels down, and it also helped him write his songs. A family friend wrote him a prescription when they turnedfourteen. Sometimes Hannah despised him for it, and until the night her parents forced her to quit, she raided his stash.

Her day worsened when the oncologist from Florida called, over a week after she expected him to. After the doctor rambled on for a minute in a medical dialect she couldn't understand, Hannah yelled at him to spit it out. The news she didn't match Lily floored her.

Since she couldn't smoke, Hannah sent Spencer a text the minute her last class ended, then she headed straight for the gun range. He text back that he felt sorry for the news from the doctor and wanted to talk to her whenever she came home.

When Hannah arrived at the range, she realized she didn't have her revolver. The range owner liked to shoot with her sometimes and loaned her one of his guns. She laughed when he gave her the Glock 17, and sent a textto Aaron. For years he'd teased her about the better quality of his gun.

The one slot open made Hannah pause. She remembered what happened in that exact same range, and the exact same lane two years ago. She'd stalked Aaron here and asked that he pull some strings for Spencer, help him pass the Academy's physical tests he struggled with, and get him into the BAU. Aaron liked her spunk and nerve and proposed a shooting contest for his answer. She emptied her entire revolver through one hole in the middle of the paper target's head. Aaron whistled, asked if a Secret Service agent trained her, then swore he would look into Dr. Reid's difficulties with the Academy's psychical requirements.

When she felt his presence behind her not even twenty minutes later, Hannah didn't look around. Instead, she stepped aside, pushed in a new slide, and handed him the Glock. Aaron accepted the gun and put every bullet through the target heart. As the paper rolled forward, they checked out the each others handiwork. Hannah returned the gun and Aaron followed her out.

"What's with the stomach shots Hannah?" Aaron said once they stepped outside. "That's a painful wound and an agonizing death."

Hannah stared at the wounds she inflicted upon the paper while she spoke.

"My administrator decided to be an idiot today, the other professors all decided to be lunatics about it, and I suspect most of my students were stoned, which just made me miss smoking pot with Matthew."

Aaron listened as he rolled up the paper and tucked it under his arm.

"So, bad day?"

"Lily's oncologist finally called. I'm not a match. So, yeah, it's been a bad day. You have no idea how much I want a special brownie."

"Early birthday? I'll buy you a brownie, just not one of those brownies." Aaron wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into a hug. "Come on, I'll bring you back here to your car when we're done."

Hannah smiled and followed Aaron to his car.

"Deal." She said as he opened the passenger door for her.

Another memory from that same day two years ago stopped Hannah in her tracks. After she shocked Aaron with her firearms display inside, they moved outside to talk. After a few select questions that let Hannah know that she dealt with a skilled interrogator, Aaron asked if she would like to grab a quick bite with him so that they could talk some more. Like a gentleman, he opened the passenger door of his car for her.

As she climbed into the car, they almost kissed.

It happened by accident, they stood too close, but neither backed off. An inch separated them. Hannah smelled his breath and thought of cinnamon gum. She closed her eyes and breathed out, aware of her own breath. Chocolate. Minty. When she opened them again, Aaron hadn't moved. He stood by the car door and studied her. Watched her. She watched him back. His eyes never left her own. She could have sworn that a moment ago his eyes were not that dilated, and wondered if her own eyes reacted to him the same as his reacted to her. Hannah looked away first, and they fell upon the hand that held her door open. His wedding band stuck out against the blue paint. She looked back into his eyes. They too glanced for a moment at his ring, before they moved back up and stared into her own. When she couldn't stand the tension in her chest any more, Hannah pecked him on the cheek and whispered against his skin.

"I'm not the other woman Aaron. I can't be that."

She stepped back, removed a business card from one of her favorite bookstores that she found in her wallet and wrote her cell number on the back. He accepted it as she thanked him on behalf of Spencer, then she climbed in her own car and left. Five days later he called her. They met for a coffee and breakfast the next morning. Aaron asked her dozens of questions, about herself, her famous parents, and Dr. Reid. That lead him to ask her a few more questions about her relationship with Spencer Reid. When he finished his interrogation, Aaron apologized for being so forceful, but Hannah laughed it off, called the experience amusing and a bit reminiscent of her parents, then insisted that she pay for their meal.

They became good friends after that and Spencer soon joined the team, but they never once brought up the near kiss or her words. A mistake perhaps.

Now Hannah found herself in the same situation when Aaron opened the passenger side door and then stepped inside her personal space. He had not done that the last time, but he moved as though he didn't realize the situation or where he was within it, not until Hannah reacted. She didn't flinch, or move backward, but instead stepped closer. They hadn't experienced a moment like this for two years and it felt good. Aaron reached for her and Hannah accepted his hand before a car pulled into the lot and forced them apart. They ignored the moment of weakness and acted the part of gentleman and lady as he helped her into the passenger seat. When Aaron closed the door, Hannah expelled her held breath through her nose and balled her fists as she stared at the new car. By the time Aaron walked around the front and got in, Hannah studied his work on the unrolled paper.

"Spencer's gun re-qualification is the day after tomorrow."

Aaron heard her tone and noticed her sentence structure as well. Spencer before all else.

"He already asked me to help him at the FBI range tomorrow. Have you worked with him?"

"Not since the first time he saw me shoot. Apparently I scare him."

"Not just him. The first time I saw you shoot, I thought I would have a heart attack right there."

* * *

Two days later Spencer returned from the office in a less than great mood. Without a word, he put his gun away in the bed stand. Before Hannah could ask, Spencer shook his head. They discussed any topic but guns that night but that didn't satisfy Hannah. She wouldn't let him mope over it.

"You can test again in two weeks and until that time, you're going to let me work with you so you can pass it." Hannah said the next morning as he left for work. "This is not a negotiation. You need to get your gun back."

Spencer paused with his hand on the doorknob, and thought it over before he looked at her.

"Only if you don't shoot the paper target in the stomach. That freaks me out."

"Deal."

* * *

When Spencer returned from Des Plaines, he walked into the living room and found Hannah at the dining room table, cleaning her revolver. She put it down and came around the table.

"Spencer! Why didn't you call to say you were back?"

"I wanted to surprise you. Did you go shooting while I was out of town?"

"Yes, but I wanted to clean it before we practiced shooting together."

"We don't have to. Hotch cleared me."

"He cleared you to carry?"

"I shot the unsub with Hotch's gun."

Spencer put his hands in his pockets as his eyes wandered around the objects near at hand. Hannah sensed that his actions ashamed him somewhat.

"You get your gun back!"

She surprised him with a hug but Spencer surprised her more when he flinched.

"Ow!"

"Spencer?" Hannah backed off and watched him cradle his ribcage. "What's wrong?"

"My ribs hurt." Spencer said in a low voice filled with pain.

Hannah pulled up his shirt and gasped.

"Oh my god, Spencer!" Hannah studied the bruises forming across his chest and said, "The unsub did this?"

"No."

"Who?"

The glint in her eyes when she looked up frightened Spencer. He thought about lying, but he knew Hotch would confess his actions over drinks with Hannah anyway. A confession that dangerous would get Hotch punched.

"Hotch needed to get his ankle gun to me."

"What do you mean? Did Aaron do this to you?"

She turned back for her gun, but Spencer grabbed her arm and pulled her around.

"Don't be mad at him Hannah."

"He kicked you in the ribs Spencer!"

Hannah pointed at his bruises for emphasis.

"Hotch kicks like a nine year old girl."

Spencer grinned at his joke but Hannah just set her jaw and he dropped the smile.

"That's not funny."

"It's true." Spencer said, "Please don't be mad at him. I'm not."

"Go look at your ribs in the mirror."

"I can see my ribs just fine. It's not that bad." Spencer glanced down at them and when he looked back up Hannah vanished and as he looked around he spotted Hannah halfway up the stairs. "Where are you going?"

"To see what we have in the medicine cabinet." She glanced down at Spencer. "I want to kill Aaron right now."

"Don't. He has a baby due any day now."

Hannah grunted, which always made Spencer nervous. He eyed the dismembered gun on the table and after Hannah disappeared into the bathroom, he inched toward it.

"We got Bayer and Tylenol. Which do you want?"

"The Tylenol will work." Spencer said as he picked up the firing pin and hid it under his watch.

"Okay, Tylenol it is." Spencer heard her coming and moved away from the table, but Hannah's next words stopped him. "And Spencer? Put my firing pin back on the table."

He looked up and saw Hannah lean against the railing, her eyes on his watch.

"Not until you promise not to kill Hotch. I want to explain everything that happened. You'll understand that we didn't have another option."

She mulled it over for a few seconds, but Hannah nodded.

"Fine. I promise not to kill Aaron, but I can't promise not to punch him in the arm for payback."

"Fair enough."


	8. The Fox

**Disclaimer: CBS owns Criminal Minds, but Hannah is my character.**

**Author's Note: A third chapter today because I appreciate you so much! Enjoy and please review!**

Chapter 7

**The Fox**

Hannah kicked Spencer in the ribs when he jolted her awake. He deserved it. She hated it when he huddled under the blankets and tickled her feet.

"Ow!" Spencer scrambled away from her feet as he clutched his ribs. "Hey, my ribs are still sore from Iowa."

"Not my fault. Don't tickle me you little cretin."

"It's cretin. If you're going to insult me, at least say it properly."

"Plagiarist."

"Borrower. Everyone borrows from Monsters Inc."

"Speaking of animated kids movies, Don's misfits want you to take them to the Ice Age sequel."

"I will, case pending."

"They're not going to accept that answer."

"Then I'll take them as soon as I get off the plane and hand in my paperwork."

"Better answer. Now, what are you gonna do with your vacation days?"

"Go see my mom."

"Would you like me to join you or do you want to be solo this trip?"

"I'd like to be solo. You could kidnap Jenna, just have a designated driver."

"That could be fun." Hannah threw off her covers and grabbed her discarded nightgown off the floor. "Do you want me to pass good wishes along to Haley when I visit her after the birth? Little Jack is due this weekend and you'll be in Vegas."

"I never know what to say. Newborns aren't cute."

"I just remembered when you told Allison that Lily looked like a Mandrake. The first movie hadn't even come out yet."

"Rowling described them very well in the book. I thought Ally was going to hit me."

"She would have if she hadn't been so drugged up."

"I learned my lesson."

"Only because I remind you not to say the baby looks ugly."

"Newborns are ugly!"

"Everyone knows that but mothers think their kids are special! Never mind, I won't tell Haley anything from you. Just be careful what you do say to her when you meet the baby."

"Okay." Spencer kissed the back of her neck and slid his arms around her waist, just Hannah slipped her panties back on.

"I have to go to school."

"I have to go to work too but we still have plenty of time. I woke you early."

"So you did. Horny bastard."

"Come back under the covers."

* * *

Aaron pounded the floor of the maternity ward to ease his anxiety. That didn't help, but when Hannah called his voice from down the hallway, that did.

"Aaron!"

As he turned around, Aaron grinned at the sight of her.

"Hannah."

She smiled back, right before she landed a right hook on his bicep and yelled at him.

"Ass!"

"Ow!" Aaron rubbed his arm and took a step back. "What was that for?"

"Two things. One, you kicked Spencer!"

"Hold on a minute. He hasn't told you the full story."

"Spencer did tell me the full story and it doesn't get you off the hook with me."

"Okay, and the second reason?"

"Why did Jessica call me down to the hospital when you should have asked me to come?"

"I didn't know they called you. We agreed to have family only at the hospital or else I would have called you myself."

The reason seemed legit, so Hannah nodded and left it alone.

"Fine, but I'm still mad about what happened to Spencer." She took off down the hall and glanced in the rooms as she passed them. "Which way to Haley's room?"

"Hannah, wait." Aaron grabbed her hand and lead her down a hall away from Haley's room, until he found a stairwell and stopped. "We need to talk about what happened outside the gun range."

Hannah glanced up and down the hall before she looked at Aaron.

"You want to talk about that now?" Aaron's eyes looked different than they didoutside the range, less lustful and more upset, and Hannah felt her Irish rising. "Fine, why not? Let's talk about it now. I made it clear to you two years ago that I do not date or sleep with married men. And what the hell even happened the other day?"

"I don't know." Aaron looked down and away. "I'm sorry."

Hannah's shove sent him back against the door and Aaron looked up, surprised by what she'd just done.

"Sorry? Don't tell me you're sorry Aaron. I'm not your wife. Just your wife's friend and your friend. And I don't buy that you're sorry. That's bullshit. Two years ago you pulled that move on me and that was an accident, you didn't intend for it to happen and neither did I and then there was nothing like that, nothing romantic since then, so why pull it again now with your baby boy just a few weeks away from his due date?"

"Don't tell me you don't know." Aaron stepped so close that inches separated them. "You're smarter than that. You're one of the most brilliant women I know Hannah."

Hannah placed her palm over his heart, and felt his heart beat faster than hers.

"Don't try and flatter me Aaron, and don't treat me like a booty call."

Aaron's heartbeat quickened. His eyes flew up from her hand and as he looked back into her eyes, she saw his pupil's widen. They'd done that before, outside the range. Both times. And many times between. She'd hoped no one picked up on it. Her own pupil reaction when she looked at Aaron made her conscientious.

"I have never said you are!" Aaron grabbed her hand and held her fingers within his own, then pulled her closer until an inch of air kept them apart. "I haven't even thought it. Of course you're not a booty call Hannah. You're more important to me than that."

"Oh bullshit, Aaron. Bullshit!" Hannah tried to break free of his grasp but his strength kept her there, an inch away from those lips and the words she didn't want to hear. "You pulled a move on me when you haven't had sex in months. Go ahead and try to deny it."

Aaron closed his eyes in answer. He couldn't look at her and say it.

"That was just a moment of weakness."

"Yeah right Aaron! Just a moment? What about two years ago? Was that just another moment?"

"That's complicated and you know it."

"Yeah I do know it, so let me clear it up for you." Hannah pushed herself off of him and put a couple of inches between them. "Spencer and I have an open relationship. You and Haley do not. While you are married, nothing is going to happen between us. So stop driving me crazy with that car door trick of yours!"

"Hannah, it's not that simple. You know how I feel about you."

"Yes, I do, and you and your wife got pregnant after you made it clear to me how you feel about me. Damn it, Aaron! And I thought Spencer was a mess when it comes to romantic relationships."

"Hannah."

Aaron reached for her face but she knocked it away.

"No, just stop it okay?"

"Hannah!"

As his voice rose in anger, Hannah turned but Aaron caught her hand. She tried to pull away but hauled her back as he reached behind him and pulled open the stairwell door. Hannah saw the open stairwell and fought him, but Aaron grabbed her other arm.

"Let go of me!"

He pulled her through, and shoved her up against the wall as the door closed behind them. His weight pinned her against the wall as she struggled to push him off.

"Listen to me." Aaron grabbed her wrists and pinned them against the wall above her head. "Hannah, stop fighting me and just listen to me!"

Hannah stopped and looked into his eyes.

"What?" Hannah said.

The expression hell hath no fury popped into Aaron's mind, so he softened his voice. He did not back up to give her the space to kick him.

"I can't explain why I have these feelings. I just do. And yes, I'm married. Yes, my son is due today. And yes, this is complicated and I can't stand it, but I can't just forget how I feel about you, so don't ask me to."

"I never asked you to forget, Aaron! I just want you to stop pulling moves on me when we can't do anything more. Like you're doing right now. Aaron, look at me. Not my lips. Look at my eyes."

"What?" Aaron said a few seconds later when he looked up at her eyes.

"Release me, and let's go see your wife. She's in labor and wants to see us."

The reminder of his pregnant wife worked. The grip on her hand and wrist disappeared and Aaron backed away. He opened the door and motioned that Hannah should go first. As she did, he stroked her arm, but pulled his hand away when she glared at him over her shoulder. Aaron lead her down the hall as Hannah tried to keep her eyes off the back of his jeans. As they reached Haley's room, Aaron glanced back and caught her. She looked up and blushed.

When they arrived, she slipped past him into the room. She smiled, her blush gone. Haley grinned when she saw Hannah and held out her hand. A moment later Hannah stood at her bedside, both of Haley's hands within her own.

"I'm so glad you came Hannah. I know you have classes."

"Don't worry about it. I put a note on my office door. No one questions labor."

"Good, now can you make me a promise?"

"Sure."

"Promise me we'll go on another beach trip."

"Absolutely." Behind her Aaron hid a laugh in a cough, but Hannah ignored him as she leaned over Haley's belly and poked her bellybutton. "Hey, you! Come out of your mama already. We need to go to the beach and have all kinds of fun we can't tell anyone about."

Hannah, Haley, and Jessica burst into a giggle fit. Behind them Aaron shook his head and gazed up at the ceiling.

"Oh!" Haley stopped laughing. "He's moving now! Get the doctor Aaron, I think the contractions are getting closer!"

Aaron stepped into the hall and called the doctor back in, but he still caught Hannah's next words.

"I'll leave you with your family Haley. I have another class in less than an hour."

"Thank you again for coming Hannah. I needed to see a friend. And I thought the laughter might help."

Haley giggled again, but a contraction stole her breath and she grimaced until it passed.

"Laughter." Hannah grinned. "Always the best medicine. I'll come back tonight or tomorrow to see you and the little guy. I'll call Jessica to find out when the best time is."

"Okay." Haley said before she gave Hannah's hand one last squeeze.

Before she left, Hannah gave Jessica a quick hug and a smile.

"Welcome to the club Aunt."

"Thank you Hannah." Jessica returned the smile and added in a wink.

At the doorway, Hannah stopped beside Aaron, leaned close, and whispered in his ear.

"I can't help how I feel about you either Aaron, but I respect and love Haley too much to betray her like that." She looked him in the eye as she said, "Forget about me. For both our sakes. Please."

Aaron gazed at her for a moment before he nodded.

* * *

After the team wrapped the Arnold case and left for the night, Aaron stayed a few more hours. When he exhausted his paperwork, he packed up, looked around the darkened office, and left. On his way home he detoured. This night of the week, Hannah put in extra hours in her school office. After he paused at her door and listened for the sounds of her music player and the shift of her papers, Aaron knocked. A few seconds later she answered it, and when she did, Aaron knew she'd expected him for some time. She stepped aside for him and pointed at a chair that she'd moved into place for him. He glanced at the loveseat sofa and saw it covered in clippings, magazines, and books.

"Aaron. Come in." Hannah didn't sound disappointed that he'd showed up at her door, but happy, which he found strange after their fight at the hospital several days ago, the last time they had spoken. "You want to talk about the Arnold case?"

Halfway into the office, Aaron stopped and looked at her.

"How did you know?"

"I went home for an hour and found Spencer reading Dostoevsky." Hannah closed the door. "No one can talk to him while he's reading Dostoevsky, so I just left him alone, but he filled me in on the case before he completely lost himself in the novel."

Aaron recalled Hannah's explanation of Reid's reading moods when he joined the team. The Russian greats he read when he found himself upset and didn't want any conversation, and when a case angered him, he read Dostoevsky. That happened after cases that involved dead children. Reid couldn't understand why people killed children. Hotch thought the fact that Reid grew up an only child played into it, as well as the fact that he never connected with a child until Lily's birth, and since then connected with few save his other nieces and nephews.

"How much did Reid tell you about the case?"

The desk became Hannah's seat as she leaned back against it and took a deep breath.

"Arnold is a family annihilator, and what he said at the end of his confession about fathers." Hannah turned off the classical music as Aaron sat in the offered seat. "That's why you're here, because of what Arnold said about fathers?"

She said it as a matter of fact and Aaron blinked. Hannah had that effect on him.

"How can you always read me like that?"

"You know why."

A slight blush appeared in Hannah's cheeks, but vanished when she swallowed and looked away.

"He took the father's wedding ring as a trophy."

"I know." Hannah met his eyes. "You hate him for that."

"He took everything from them." Aaron looked away, and after a second his eyes settled on Hannah's hands in her lap. "Yes, I hate him for that. I'm a father, of course I hate him."

As he spoke, Aaron rubbed his wedding ring with his thumb until Hannah put her hand over his and stopped him.

"Aaron, do you want to say something to Karl Arnold, or to me?"

"What you said at the hospital." Aaron looked into her eyes. "Before you left. You were right."

"And you agreed with me when I said it."

"I need to be a strong father."

"Arnold's words."

"He stole them. I need to be a good father and a good husband. We can't do this."

"I already said this at the hospital. Are my words only now getting through to you? Aaron, you don't need to analyze Karl Arnold to know that we should not have an affair."

"I don't want an affair."

"Good." Hannah smiled and nodded, relieved he said it. "Neither do I."

"But I want you."

Her smile vanished and for a moment Hannah just stared at him.

"You drive me crazy." Hannah ran her hands through the long strands of her brown hair, before she grasped her hands together in front of her. "Aaron, you can't have both of us. You can't have Haley and me at the same time. I won't do that, and I won't let you do that."

"I know and I've made my decision." Aaron grabbed her hands and put them down on her lap. "Haley."

"Good. Yes."

"I just wish I didn't feel the way I do about you."

"We can't control who we love. You know that better than most."

So as not to startle her, Aaron stood up slow and calm, but he didn't give her any sign of what he wanted to do next. He leaned forward and kissed her for the first time. After a moment Hannah returned the kiss. It continued for six, seven, eight seconds before they lost count and forgot about time and promises. Aaron tickled the back of her neck with his fingertips and caught strands of her hair in his hands. Hannah's hands started at his waist and ran up his chest until she cupped his face. They stayed that way as long as they could, until Aaron pulled away.

He stood up and made his way to the door. Hannah didn't move, except for her lips when she whispered his name. Aaron paused with his hand on the knob and glanced back at a shell-shocked Hannah.

She caught his hand and Aaron froze, then he pulled her into his arms. He pushed her hair back and whispered in her ear.

"Hannah, you keep me sane."


	9. Natural Born Killer

**Disclaimer: CBS owns Criminal Minds. The original character Hannah is mine.**

**Author's Note: It's just after midnight where I live, so this is a Sunday chapter, but this is also the fourth chapter within twenty-four hours! (Of course, these are just clean-ups of a previous version; once I get into the teens, then it will be a week or more between chapters.) Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you like the story:)**

Chapter 8

**Natural Born Killer**

Hours after the Perotta interrogation, Aaron stood outside Hannah's classroom and checked his watch again. Ten minutes until this class finished and over an hour until her next class began. He tried to wait, but after he glanced at his watch three times inside a minute, Aaron gave up and knocked. When Hannah peered out the small window on the door, her eyes widened and she joined him in the hallway. When the door clicked shut behind her, she glanced down the hall, and, when she saw no one else, loosened his tie and unbuttoned his collar. The sight of his red and blue neck stole Hannah's color.

"How in the hell can you keep your tie on after what happened, Aaron?"

"I don't want anyone to see. How did you know?"

"Spencer called and told me what happened between you and Vincent Perotta in that junkyard. He sounded worried and thought you might head over here at some point to talk to me. Aaron, have you gone home to Haley yet?"

"I can't. Not yet. I thought after a couple hours paperwork I could, but I can't."

"You're angry. Or upset. Sometimes I can't tell the difference with you."

"I'm both."

"Because of Perotta?"

"Yes." Aaron breathed deep and said, "I can't take my anger home to my family."

Hannah removed a beaded carabiner off her belt, detached a key attached by a braid of golden ribbons, and pressed it into Aaron's hand.

"Key to my office. Wait for me in there. My class has less than ten minutes left. I'll come straight there."

Hannah kissed him on the cheek and slipped back into her classroom before he could speak. He stepped back, turned and walked down the hallway to her office. The next time he looked up, Aaron saw the nameplate for Dr. Hannah Darrow on her office door. His feet carried him there on automatic.

He knew her office well. Last year he'd helped her move in a love seat sofa and rearrange after Spencer opted to go to a convention with Garcia instead. Neither of them blamed him. Spencer hated furniture shopping and rearranging. He left decorating the townhouse to Hannah and didn't care where she put things, so long as the arrangements made sense, and she didn't leave any more tables in the middle of the hallway.

Hannah relished the opportunity to spend some private time with Aaron, and Aaron relished the chance to spend quality time with Hannah. Nothing happened then, well before their second encounter outside the gun range and the second spark that dogged their steps ever since. Everything became complicated between them since then. Aaron let himself into her office and shut the door behind him, but he didn't lock it. The moment he saw the love seat he sank onto it, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

"Aaron." Hannah said as she shook him awake. "I've let you sleep for at least fifteen minutes, but you have to wake up now."

"I'm awake." Aaron opened his eyes and blinked several times. "I'm up."

"I'm surprised you slept at all given what happened last night."

"I haven't slept in two nights. My adrenaline levels crashed." Aaron scrunched his eyebrows and shook his head. "Or however you say that scientifically."

"You really are exhausted if you're talking like that." Hannah tried not to laugh and just smiled instead. "Do you need me to drive you home?"

"No, I can make it."

"Okay." Hannah reached into a teapot, pulled out a wet handkerchief, and rung it out as Aaron watched her. "I heated some water. Let me look at your neck. Take off your tie."

He grinned at that and pulled it off.

"Do you need my shirt off as well?" Aaron said and winced when Hannah smacked his elbow.

"Do not tempt me Aaron."

"I'm not trying to tempt you. I don't want to get my shirt wet." Aaron found his top button as he said, "The real question is, can you contain yourself?"

Hannah stared as long as she could bare it before she replied.

"Can you?"

"I can if you can."

"Take the shirt off."

"Lock your door."

Hannah started and looked up from the handkerchief.

"Excuse me?"

"You don't want a student to walk in on this. The rumors will spread faster that STD's in a co-ed dorm."

"Fine." Hannah left the sofa and locked the door. "But no more sex talk out of your mouth."

"It's an accurate comparison."

Hannah sat back down beside him and helped him unbutton, but stopped after just one button and played with the handkerchief instead.

"Aaron, we can't talk sex. It's too much. You know that."

"Sorry." Aaron said as he unbuttoned his shirt, pulled it halfway down his arms, and exposed his upper chest and bruised neck.

"Apology accepted." Hannah's eyes lingered a few moments on his bare chest, but she gasped when she saw his entire neck. "Oh, god, Aaron. This looks terrible."

"It looks worse than it feels."

"Really? Are you serious right now?" Hannah said as she raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "Because you are the only person I know who's ever been garroted."

"Okay, I feel like an abused rag doll." Aaron closed his eyes and breathed deep. "I feel like hell."

"Your voice sounds fine." Hannah said while she pressed the hot handkerchief against his battered skin with a soft touch. "A little soft, but you sound okay."

"Thanks." Aaron sighed and settled deeper into the sofa cushions. "The hot water helps."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Hannah arranged the handkerchief over his neck and left it there. "Perotta's interrogation. Why did he make you so angry?"

"He didn't. His circumstances did."

"What does that mean? What circumstances?"

"An abusive father."

"That got you thinking about your own father."

"He wasn't anywhere near as bad as Perotta's father, but he was a hard man." Aaron opened his eyes and and looked into Hannah's eyes. "I would never raise a hand to my son."

When she looked down, Hannah saw Aaron's left hand an inch away from her knee. She grasped his wrist in her hand and counted out the beats of his heart for fifteen seconds before she looked back up.

"You'd rather cut it off than raise it to him."

"Yes." Aaron glanced at his wrist and smiled. "How do you know me so well Hannah?"

A quick smile appeared on Hannah's lips, but vanished as her face became unreadable. She lifted Aaron's arm level with her face, and studied his pulse. But while she spoke her eyes looked past his arm and into his eyes.

"Oh, I just figured out the alcohol combination that unlocks your soul, so now you have no more secrets from me."

"You're scary." Aaron said as his eyes widened and the corners of his mouth twitched.

"You know I'm kidding!" Hannah dropped his arm on his lap and giggled. "Well, a little."

"I am officially terrified of you now." Aaron grinned as he said it.

"Oh shut up." Hannah cracked up and giggled harder, but when Aaron grabbed her leg and pulled her on top of him, she stopped. "Aaron! What the hell?"

The answer arrived when Aaron grabbed her right hand and placed it over his heart, placed his left hand over her right and his right hand over her own heart. His heart raced faster than one minute before, and so did hers.

"Hannah."

"Stop it Aaron."

"Hannah?"

She pushed him and almost lost her balance on his lap, but Aaron held her hand tighter. That just angered her even more.

"Have you completely forgotten what you said to me just feet from here only a few weeks ago? I'll remind you. You chose your wife and your marriage and your son over a mistaken affair with me. You made the right decision that night. I'm not going to let you go back on that and you know damn well I'm not going to sleep with a married man, so knock it off!" Hannah said before she reached into her jean pocket. "Hold on. My phone just buzzed in my back pocket."

"Don't answer it. Please." Aaron reached for the cell phone, but stopped when he felt fingernails settle over the skin on his chest.

"Aaron, stop it. I don't want to leave marks your wife will question, so shut up." Hannah looked at the phone and discovered a new text message from Spencer that sped up her heart rate even more. "Oh my God."

"What's wrong?"

"Quiet." Hannah put a finger over her lips as she turned the phone toward him. "Look."

Aaron's eyes widened as he read the message: _I just parked outside your building. I'm on my way in and I can't wait to see you._

"He's here?" Aaron said in a whisper that traveled no further than Hannah's ears.

"In the building. In the hallway by now probably." Hannah said in the same soft whisper. "Put your shirt on and keep that wrapped around your neck."

As Hannah removed the handkerchief, Aaron looked at her, confused.

"Why?"

"Just do it. And button up." Hannah helped get the first button done before she climbed off his lap. "I have to let him in when he knocks. Hurry."

Aaron closed the rest of his buttons as he watched Hannah pace in front of the door and cast him dirty looks. When she changed directions and started towards the wall farthest the door, he stood and grabbed her by the elbow.

"Hey." Aaron mouthed.

"What?" Hannah mouthed back.

He pulled her away from the door until they stood at the back of her office and could talk a little bit louder.

"What the hell is so wrong with wanting just a few minutes close to you, Hannah?"

"We can't open that door and just stand in the doorway. We both want to go through and we cannot do that Aaron! Stop tempting me."

"You stop tempting me."

"What are you talking about?"

"You were sending me all the signals."

"That I what, wanted to make out and screw on the loveseat? Get your head out of the gutter."

"We would never have gone that far!"

"Do you seriously think either one of us has that much control?" A knock at the door cut their argument short. "I'm letting him in. Just smile and act like everything is fine."

"Smile?" Aaron rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because Reid will find that perfectly natural."

"When you're in my company, or Haley's, they always do." Hannah said of the whole team.

At that, she walked away and opened the door, a perfect smile on her face. Aaron smiled too, and walked as far as the teapot before he stopped and touched the handkerchief that covered up his bruises. He couldn't hide the handkerchief, and Reid looked inside the office and saw him just as Hannah announced his presence.

"Look who beat you here."

"Hey, Hotch. What's on your neck?"

"Hannah's idea. It helped." Aaron said as he looked at Hannah and removed the handkerchief.

Reid swallowed, and turned a light shade of yellow.

"That's what Perotta did in the junkyard?"

"Don't worry. It looks a lot worse than it feels." Aaron glanced at Hannah with a look that said stay quiet about my lie, and handed her the handkerchief. "Thank you Hannah. I should get home to Haley and Jack now."

"Tell Haley I'm working on the beach trip." Hannah folded the handkerchief and didn't look at him. "I'll call her when I have something more concrete."

"I will. See you tomorrow Reid."

"See you tomorrow." Reid said, "Put some muscle ointment on your neck. That should help."

"I will." Aaron gave them a small nod as he left. "Have a good night."

The last thing Aaron heard as he left Hannah's office stopped him mid step as he turned to look back.

"Do you want to go out on a date tonight?" Reid said.

Hannah grinned, this one not fake, and embraced him.

"Yes!"

Then she glanced up, saw Aaron standing in the hallway watching them, and her eyes widened. So did her pupils.


	10. Derailed

**Disclaimer: CBS owns Criminal Minds. Hannah is my character.**

**Author's Note: Fifth chapter in a weekend. You're welcome. Thanks for still reading, and thank you for the reviews.**

Chapter 9

**Derailed**

Spencer woke up with a dry mouth. He forgot last night that Hannah added extra rum into her margaritas for kick, and maybe to torture him as an added bonus. He rolled out of bed and stumbled into the shower. Fifteen minutes later, after sprays of both hot and cold water, he felt ready for the day, though he still felt a bit hazy and unfocused as he dressed. Given his weight and metabolism, he never learned how to handle a hangover well, even though he understood the science behind it. His wardrobe did not interest him, but after he stared at his closet for a few minutes, he choose. As he reached for the bedroom door, Spencer grinned and slipped into ninja stealth mode.

Hannah stood at the stove. She stirred meat on the skillet when Spencer snuck up behind her. For a few seconds he just watched her. When he saw how comfortable she looked, he leaned in closer and whispered with his best scary movie voice two inches from her ear.

"Deadly margaritas!"

Hannah jumped and a girlish scream erupted from of her throat. She spun around, the wooden spoon in her hand like a weapon, but Spencer caught her wrist and laughed. After she cursed him under her breath, she laughed too.

"Jerk, you scared the hell out of me!" Hannah gave him a light punch on the arm.

"Consider it payback for getting me drunk last night."

"You love my margaritas." Hannah said before she gave him a quick kiss, then turned around and got right back to work on breakfast.

Spencer moved in beside her, leaned over the stove top, and inhaled.

"This smells awesome."

"Thank you. Get away. It's not ready yet." Hannah elbowed him away from the food. "Now go set the breakfast table."

"Yes chef." Spencer saluted her and received a stink eye and half a smile in return.

"I thought we could be spontaneous tonight if you're in town. Have crazy fun and wonder how it happened."

Spencer's face almost split from the grin.

"Sweet."

* * *

The night started out fun, but that didn't last after Spencer shared his exploits in Texas as he and Hannah walked home. She reacted the opposite of what he expected. In all the previous months that he shared his work with her, Hannah never reacted with such anger, outside of the rape cases. When she exploded, Hannah pushed him and Spencer fell back against an old sedan. He expected a car alarm, but one glance at the model revealed the pre-alarm age.

"That's funny? You almost died but don't worry cause I used a magic trick against a guy with a gun? Are you kidding me?" Hannah said in one breath. "You could have been killed, Spencer. That's not funny!"

Spencer grabbed her arm as she walked away but Hannah pulled away.

"Hannah!"

"I do not want to talk to you tonight! Go to bed. I'll be in the guest room in the morning."

"Hannah, stop!"

"No! I'm sick of your job and your life and you are never home!"

"What are you talking about? I've been home for months, Hannah!"

"And then you go to Texas for a few hours and almost get shot by a mental patient." Hannah felt the tears but pushed them back. "That was stupid, Spencer!"

"I had the situation under control!"

"Whatever. You say that now."

"You're drunk Hannah. I'm not arguing about this now. Not when you're drunk. It's pointless." Spencer waited for her reply but instead Hannah stormed off down the street, and not in the direction of home. "Hannah? Where are you going?"

"The bar! And then I might call Jenna and crash at her place. Don't expect me to come home tonight!"

Instead of fighting her, Spencer turned and walked away, hands in his pockets, head down. He didn't look back until he reached the end of the block. Hannah stood at the opposite end of the block, cell phone in her hands. She didn't look back, and after he waited another few seconds, Spencer vanished around the corner.

Hannah almost dropped her phone in the middle of the text and messed up the message: _So mad at him now going to Martin's haven for more drinks meet me please!_

She hit send and dropped the phone in her pocket as she crossed the street. A few miles away, Aaron grabbed his cell phone as it vibrated on his night stand. As he read the message in the phone's glow, he translated the haven to tavern and wondered what happened between Hannah and Spencer as he fell back to sleep next to his wife.

* * *

The next morning Aaron parked in front of Jenna's house. Jenna saw him pull up and opened the door in the middle of his knock. She crossed her arms, and glared at him, her head cocked in her signature disappointed stance. As Hannah's best friend, Jenna knew all the details Spencer didn't, or they suspected he didn't know. Aaron received a lot of glares from her over the years, so this glare didn't frighten him, but he grew nervous as she continued to stand there.

"Good morning Jenna." Aaron said, "Can I talk to her?"

Jenna stepped back and gestured him inside.

"She's in the guest bedroom." Jenna said, then grabbed his arm as he headed that way. "You're not going in there! Wait in the kitchen with the boys while I toss her hungover ass in the shower."

Aaron still tried to follow her but when Jenna cast a dirty look over her shoulder, he obeyed and turned into the kitchen. Marcus and Danny, her husband and her son, looked up at him when he entered. While Danny slid the large platter of sausage and pancakes over for him, Marcus grinned, crossed his arms and leaned back against the fridge. Danny looked at his father, received permission in the form of a nod, then left the kitchen.

"Man, is Jenna mad at you."

"I'm used to that, but is Hannah mad at me?"

"She was mostly cursing Spencer when Jenna brought her home last night, but I think I heard her drop your name too. What did you do?"

"I didn't join her at the bar after she fought with Reid. She did text me after midnight when I was already in bed."

"Asleep or not asleep?"

"It didn't seem wise to leave. If Haley woke up and I was gone I didn't want to lie to her about where I went and I didn't want to tell her that I left to see Hannah at the bar."

"You're kinda screwed either way you think about it."

"That's obvious, given my current situation with Hannah."

Marcus didn't reply, but instead pulled out a plate, knife and fork for Aaron.

Aaron ate a pancake, no syrup, and a few sausages before Jenna walked in, a wet and hungover Hannah behind her in one of Jenna's bathrobes.

"You two can go talk in the study. Where there isn't a bed or a couch." Jenna said under her breath to Aaron as she cleared away his empty plate.

With one quick look at Aaron, Hannah turned and walked back down the hall. Aaron followed. When she veered toward the guest bedroom, he grabbed hold of her wrist. He led her into the study at the end of the hall and closed the door behind them.

"I don't want to talk in here." Hannah said.

"Well I don't want to talk in the bedroom."

Aaron looked everywhere but at her and put some distance between them.

"Don't want to or don't feel comfortable?"

"You know that answer." Aaron said as he turned around.

"I'm not going to toss you down on the bed Aaron." Hannah looked at him, a small grin on her face as she said, "Or would you toss me down?"

The startled swallow and head jerk when Aaron looked up and into her eyes answered Hannah's question. With one hand she reached down, put her thumb inside the knot that held her bathrobe together, and pulled. Aaron's eyes widened and he crossed the room in two steps, just as the knot came loose. Hannah pulled the robe open with her free hand but Aaron stopped her. He closed the robe and didn't look down at her naked body even once. The whole time he kept his eyes on hers.

"Damn it Hannah. Don't. We agreed. Do not violate your own rule."

Aaron turned away to give her some privacy. When she didn't fix the robe and Aaron didn't turn back, Hannah sighed and pulled the robe tighter around her body. Then Aaron turned back.

"Is that why you didn't show up last night? Because you thought this would happen?" Hannah said as she gestured her tied bathrobe.

"Hannah, I didn't show up at the bar because I was asleep next to my wife. I made it clear in your office that I chose my wife."

"I know what decision you made. Need I remind you what happened the next time you came by my office? The make-out session you tried to start in the middle of my nursing your neck?"

"That was hardly an attempt at a make-out session. But it was a moment of weakness and I'm sorry it happened. I already apologized for it, and I went home to my wife."

"You went home because Spencer showed up! If he hadn't, what would you have done?"

"Nothing, Hannah! That was the last time anything like that happened between us and I don't need you reminding me of how I almost betrayed Haley."

"Haley had nothing to do with last night, Aaron! Last night, I just needed a friend."

"And I knew you would call Jenna when I didn't answer. I didn't think it was appropriate for me to text you back in the middle of the night after our last discussion in your office."

"That sounds like a great excuse but I don't buy it. Haley knows we're good friends and that wasn't the first time we text well after midnight. I needed a friend and Jenna was not the friend I needed. I needed you because I needed to talk to you about what Spencer did in Texas!"

"What about Texas?"

"I got upset at him for how he spoke about it. Spencer almost got shot and he's proud of himself for using a magic trick and talking the guy down. When I heard him talk like that...I already had a few drinks in me and I lost it. I started yelling at him and just left him to walk home alone while I went to the bar. In hindsight, I know I overreacted, but I don't think Spencer has realized the gravity of what happened on that train. It just bothers me when he talks like that."

Aaron remained quiet as he weighed what Hannah said.

"Reid was our best option for getting those hostages out alive. He could do the trick to convince the gunman his imagined chip had been removed and he figured out which mental illness the gunman had." Aaron stopped for a minute as he stared out the window, lost for a moment in thought before he turned back. "I saw him after we got everyone off that train and I watched him on the plane. You do have a point about his reaction to all of it. I'll keep my eye on him, but we compartmentalize these things. It helps us get through the cases."

"You don't have to lecture me about psychology Aaron. I was raised by the famous doctors Darrow remember? Spencer's not compartmentalizing Texas. From the way he talked about it, he was deflecting. He bragged about it. Spencer brags when he deflects. It's his defense mechanism."

"I didn't see that yesterday."

"I did." She sighed and said, "You'll let me know if anything happens?"

"I'll keep an eye on him. We'll keep each other in the loop."

"Agreed."

"Can I drive you home?"

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why?"

"Because the longer I stay in your presence, the more I want to remove this bathrobe and your clothes, and we both know why we can't do that."

Hannah's directness produced a rare blink from Aaron. It unnerved him that she could effect him like that. His back stiffened and for a moment he couldn't move, not until Hannah closed the gap. Her hands landed on his chest and moved toward his shirt buttons, but Aaron grabbed her wrists and spun her around. Confused and a bit frightened by the sudden change in his behavior and body language, Hannah fought him, but when Aaron hugged her arms at her side and applied pressure, she understood. As a little girl she learned the trick from her parents. They used it on their patients and their children, a favorite way to calm down someone in the middle of a panic or anxiety attack when they couldn't administer Haldol. Though, it never before occurred to Hannah that sympathetic nervous system suppression could subdue the sex drive. Until now. Sometimes Aaron surprised her.

"Stop this." Aaron said into her ear. "Stop this! We can't. You know we can't. This can't happen. It cannot happen. Just calm down. Breathe, and calm down. I'll let you go when you're calm, and only then."

"I'm not ready." Hannah said as her breath came out in panicked heaves. "I'm not ready."

"I know."

"No, I can't stop this. I can't stop how I feel, Aaron." She felt tears in her eyes and tried blinking them away. "I can't stop feeling what I feel for you and it's driving me crazy."

A single tear rolled down the side of her nose and Aaron saw it. He buried his face in her hair and whispered as he tried to keep it together.

"I know, I know, I'm so sorry! I'm sorry Hannah."

"We can't help it. We just can't." Hannah inhaled a deep breath before she said, "I need you to hold me tighter. You're not holding me tight enough. You have to hold me tighter or it won't work."

Aaron corrected his hold with Hannah's help. They stayed that way for two minutes and the whole time neither of them spoke. Once Hannah felt her heart rate drop back into her normal range, she tapped his wrist. He released her and stepped back.

"Hannah," Aaron studied her face, ready to grab and hold her until she calmed down again. "How do you feel?"

"Feel? I feel like I'm stuck in a loop! Like we're stuck in a loop." Hannah said as her real anger leapt out of her. "Damn it Aaron! How many times must we have this same fight? We want to but we can't, we want to but we can't! How many times?"

"You're the one who keeps attacking me, Hannah!"

"Bullshit." Hannah said and brought up their last physical confrontation. "The hospital stairwell! I wouldn't have been surprised if you had taken me right there. When you pressed me against that wall with your body, that's what I thought was going to happen, and despite being angry with you, I wouldn't have stopped you if you tried. I would have welcomed you! And you would have done it too, when you were staring at my lips, if I hadn't stopped you. But what if I hadn't tried to stop you?"

"One of these days I'm not going to stop you!" Aaron's tone turned thick as he said, "I just won't have the strength anymore."

The rest of Hannah's argument died right there. For a few seconds she just stared at Aaron before she turned away.

"Fuck!"

Aaron nodded as he looked away too.

"Can we even remain friends given the circumstances?" Aaron said.

"Don't Aaron." Hannah turned back to him and Aaron saw the fear in her eyes. "Do not even go there. That's not even a possibility and we both know it."

With that statement, Hannah ended the argument. She stood at the window and stared out. A minute passed before either spoke.

"Can I drive you home?" Aaron said again.

"No." Hannah said with more force than last time. "I'm not stopping at home this morning. I have clothes in the guest bedroom and my office keys in my purse. Marcus already said he'll drive me as he heads to work."

"I'll leave you to it then."

"Aaron." Hannah looked back and said, "Don't talk to Spencer about our fight last night. Don't even mention to him that we talked this morning."

The room fell into silence again. Hannah stared past him at the study door until Aaron nodded and opened it. He gave her a shy smile as he slipped out.

"Bye." Aaron said as he left her alone in the study and closed the door between them.

It took her two steps to cross the room. She pressed her ear against the door and listened. Aaron's footsteps disappeared once the front door closed. Hannah stepped back, bunched the fabric of her borrowed bathrobe against her mouth, and screamed into it.


	11. The Popular Kids

**Disclaimer: CBS owns Criminal Minds, but Hannah is my character.**

**Author's Note: Sorry I have haven't posted in weeks! I moved to another state and started a new job that has kept me busy. I'll try to post at least once a week if I can. Please review!**

Chapter 10

**The Popular Kids**

Hannah sat at her office desk with a red pen and a stack of papers. She hummed along with a jazz CD when Aaron walked in and closed the door behind him. With so few evening classes in her building that night, or other professors around, he didn't bother to watch his volume.

"When we agreed to keep each other in the loop, you should have mentioned then that Reid's been having nightmares about the job." Aaron stopped at her desk, his knuckles on the edge. "I would have looked at his behavior following the train incident in Texas differently."

"Aaron, I can't tell you what I don't know." Hannah put her pen down. "Spencer's having nightmares?"

"You sleep next to him, Hannah, how could you not know?"

He studied her face and body language for any sign of deception.

"Spencer hasn't said anything in his sleep, or screamed, and he hasn't even tossed and turned." Hannah's chair flew back as she stood her knuckles on the papers. "That's how I didn't know about his nightmares. I haven't seen any signs! Spencer never said anything about nightmares, even when I fought with him about what he did in Texas."

"He's hiding it. Reid probably feared I would take him off the team, put him on leave, or give him a psychological evaluation."

"Wait, so Spencer told _you_ he's having nightmares?"

"No, Reid didn't tell me. He told Morgan, and Morgan told Jason and I about it so we can help him. Jason spoke to him on the plane on the way back. He thinks Reid's fine."

"I don't get it. Spencer just started opening up to me on how the cases effect him, but he hides his nightmares?" Hannah crossed her office and sank onto her small sofa. "How do I bring this up with him, Aaron? He'll know you came to me."

Aaron sat down beside her. Their legs touched and Hannah looked down at them, but Aaron didn't.

"Then let him know I came to you. Jason and I can only help him at work. You have to help him at home, but you can't help him if he doesn't let you know what's wrong."

Hannah folded her arms across her waist, turned so she faced him, and looked Aaron in the eye.

"Aaron, I have to have a line."

"What do you mean?"

Aaron glanced down at the two inch space between them.

"I mean Spencer has to trust that I'm not running to you with everything he confides in me."

"You don't. You didn't even know about the nightmares. I had to tell you about that. Not the other way around. You can't violate his trust if he doesn't tell you about these things."

"What if he didn't confide in me about his nightmares because he thought I would tell you?"

"Would you have told me?"

"No, I would not have told you about the nightmares. That's for him to do, not me."

"Do you think he doesn't trust you?"

"I think he's afraid of telling me certain things and it wouldn't be any different if we were only friends and not dating. Spencer's very private."

"Talk to him about this." Aaron remembered the team's upcoming mandatory vacation and reminded Hannah. "The team has some vacation days next week. Do you and Reid have plans?"

"I'm joining him in Las Vegas for a few weekend shows."

"When you're in Vegas with Reid, you should talk to him."

"I will, but about what? Us or him?"

A bit of color drained from Aaron's face, and he tried to keep the stress from her question out of his voice.

"What do you mean?"

"You know _exactly_ what I mean." Hannah glared at him, her body language no longer relaxed, but hostile. "If he hasn't already figured out what's between us then he's an idiot, and Spencer is _not_ an idiot. You and I can no longer afford to act like we aren't playing this game."

"What do you expect me to do Hannah? I work with him."

"Be honest with him! I want to tell him the truth while we're in Vegas."

"Fine! Tell him the truth, but don't expect him to speak to me about it. We don't discuss you at work. Reid and I maintain our working relationship." When Hannah stood up from the sofa and walked into the center of the office, Aaron noted her balled up fists and raised shoulders. "What are you so angry about Hannah?"

"I'm willing to tell Spencer everything and you have no intention of telling Haley the truth."

"The truth about what?" Aaron threw his hands out in front of him. "You and are not having an affair!"

"Sexually, no, but emotionally?" Hannah's pent up emotional and sexual frustration burst forth. "Fuck yes we are! You have done nothing but play with my emotions for months."

Aaron's eyes narrowed.

"I'll remind you that's a two way street, and well traveled on your side."

"Yes, just blame everything on me and my sex drive!" In three steps she crossed to the door, opened it, and spoke in a whisper. "Go home to your _wife_ Aaron."

"Hannah-" Aaron stopped in front of her but she pushed him the rest of he way into the hall.

"You just keep doing whatever you want with your life, but leave me alone until you can actually _leave me alone_!"

With that she slammed the door in his face and locked it.

They both stood on opposite sides of the door for a minute, Aaron's palm on one side, Hannah's forehead on the other, their breaths shallow and quiet.


	12. Blood Hungry

Chapter 11

**Blood Hungry**

When Hannah touched down in Las Vegas, Spencer met her at the gate. The scent of the flowers tickled Hannah's nose when she reached him. Spencer brought the bouquet out from behind his back, a dozen red roses, wrapped in blue.

"Thank you! They're beautiful." Hannah said into the flowers as she looked at Spencer. "Can we go to the hotel? I would love a shower."

"Yes." Spencer grabbed her small, weekend size luggage that Hannah packed for Vegas trips, slipped his arm around her shoulders, and lead her away from the gate. "I checked us in at the Bellagio."

"I thought they banned you."

"That's why I booked the room under your name."

"Criminal."

* * *

After they checked in to their room and Hannah put the roses in a vase, Spencer spoke.

"Hannah, I'm sorry I freaked you out when I told you about Texas."

With a nod, she let him know she accepted his apology, but at the same time, Hannah prepared for an argument.

"And what about the nightmares?"

"Is there anyone Morgan didn't tell?"

"Derek didn't tell me."

"Hotch?"

"I shouldn't have had to find out about this from him."

"I can't believe he told you."

"Spencer, Aaron thought I was keeping your nightmares from him when in fact you never told me about them."

"Because I knew you would go straight to Hotch and tell him."

"That is not true, but at least it answers my question."

"What question?"

"Does my boyfriend trust me? Obviously you don't."

"I do trust you but not when it comes to Hotch. He's your best friend and my boss. That's a conflict of interest Hannah!"

"You cannot seriously believe I have a conflict of interest here. And he is not my best friend, we're just good friends. I don't tell him your secrets! Despite what you think, I do keep your confidences. You asked me years ago to keep your mother's condition private and I have. Jenna doesn't even know. You're not ticked about betrayed confidences because I haven't betrayed any, so why don't you be honest and tell me what the hell_ is _really bothering you?"

"I'm not bothered by it."

"Not bothered by what Spencer?"

"By you and Hotch flirting."

"How long have you known?"

"Since our first team barbeque. You and Hotch started flirting it in a way so Haley and the team wouldn't know."

"But you knew."

"Because I've seen you flirt with other guys. I know how you do it. And when you and Hotch look at each other, your pupils dilate. So do his."

"We hoped no one would notice. I don't date or sleep with married guys remember? Or did you think that Hotch cheated on Haley with me? Or that I broke my first rule and cheated on you with him?"

"No. I never thought you two did anything besides flirt. You would never violate your rule about married men. Did you think I thought you slept with him?"

"No, I don't know what you've imagined about my relationship with him these past few years. We haven't talked about it."

"Why haven't we talked about it?"

Hannah met his eyes.

"Because Aaron and I wanted to avoid things getting awkward. You two work together and we knew it would take some time for the team to come to terms with our relationship, yours and mine I mean. Believe me, Aaron and I never expected we would get away with hiding our feelings for each other from you and the rest of the team. You're profilers. It's just not possible. Spencer, we didn't want to hurt you and we don't want to hurt Haley either. We're sorry if we went about this the wrong way." Hannah sat on the edge of the bed and stared into Spencer's eyes. "Ask me anything and I'll tell you."

"Do you want to sleep with him?"

A frustrated sigh escaped Hannah's lips and she buried her face in her hands.

"Yes, but I don't sleep with married guys and I don't want to ruin their marriage." She sat up straight again and met Spencer's eyes again. "And I don't want their marriage to end. Not that I think that will happen, but if it ever did I would work to keep Aaron and Haley's marriage together. He has the best wife and I'm not going to let him do anything stupid that will ruin what he has. Aaron is my friend, and it's my job as his friend to make sure he doesn't fuck up, and when or if he does, it's also my job to help get him out of the dog house."

"But what if they did get divorced? The divorce rate for FBI-"

"Don't you dare finish that statistic! And I don't know what would happen then. We would see. After they both signed the divorce papers. But I don't want them to ever get a divorce. Haley is my friend too." Hannah stared at the wall. "I still need to plan that beach trip."

"Have you ever kissed him?" Spencer said and brought her attention back to him as her head whipped around.

Her eyes widened and her lips parted just enough so that Spencer knew the answer before she could explain.

"Yes." Hannah's eyes stayed on his as she launched into her explanation. "He kissed me. Once. After the team captured Karl Arnold, Aaron came to my office. We'd been having trouble for a few months with containing our feelings and the tension kept growing. He came over to tell me he choose Haley and he gave me just one kiss. It felt like one kiss for the rest of eternity. That's it. And I had already told him he needed to think of Haley and not me. He did, he came to tell mehe choose her, and I'm glad he did."

Spencer stood, paced the room twice, spotted a chair, drug it over and sat in front of Hannah.

"When did you and Hotch start having trouble?"

"The day before you failed your gun re-qualification." She paused a moment for a deep breath and said, "Aaron and I first met at that gun range. It's one near campus that he likes to go to. And that's where we started having trouble a few months ago."

"You told me about meeting him at the gun range, before I joined the team."

"I left out the part where Cupid thought he should make Aaron and I fall for each other." Hannah glanced down at her hands and then back up, "Spencer, I never knew how to tell you about all of this, but it shouldn't have come out this late and because you've stopped trusting me. I never should have lost your trust. I screwed everything up. Please don't be mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you." Spencer said as he left his chair and busied himself with his bags.

Hannah's eyes followed him.

"You've been talking to me for the past ten minutes like you're mad at me."

"That's how you perceived it."

"Perceived it? You just interrogated me. Are you going to profile my behavior now, because I'm profiling yours and it is screaming that you are upset with me."

"Stop. I'm not mad at you, but I don't want to think about all of this right now. I will later. Right now I'm going to take you out to dinner." Spencer pulled a dark shopping bag out of his luggage. "Shower and change. We're going to a nice restaurant."

"Come on Spencer, be honest with me and with yourself! Are you mad at me?"

"No." Spencer said as he looked up at her. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"Because I'm flirting with your boss." When Spencer glanced away and down, Hannah grew curious at his change in behavior and pushed him for what bothered him. "Or is it something else that is really bothering you?"

"I kissed JJ the night we went to the football game."

The room fell quiet as Spencer's words sank in.

"What?" Hannah said after a long minute. "Why didn't you tell me about that before?"

"Because we felt embarrassed about it. The kiss felt awkward. JJ and I agreed not to tell anyone." Spencer looked at her with urgency in his eyes. "You can't tell anyone. Especially Morgan."

"Spencer, I would never dream of telling Derek."

"And you can't tell Hotch."

"Of course I won't tell Aaron."

"Really?" Spencer said very fast, and Hannah knew he didn't believe her.

"Yes! I won't!" Hannah lost her cool and jumped off the bed. "This is why I asked you if you're mad at me Spencer, because of Aaron. Come on! Be honest with me. Did you withhold your nightmares from me because you thought I would tell Aaron about them?"

"No." Spencer said just as fast as he when he displayed his skepticism.

"Really? Because just a few minutes ago you said you don't trust me when it comes to Aaron Hotchner."

"Yes! I didn't tell you about my nightmares because I thought you were going to tell Hotch. I don't know what information is safe from him. You tell him everything."

"That is not true!"

"Did you call him after our fight when you blew up over Texas?"

"I drunk text him but he never responded. I went home with Jenna. She's my best friend and the one who knows everything, about you, Aaron, everybody and every single thing, except your mother. Jenna's my best friend who hears everything and I vent to. Not Aaron. I don't tell him everything. That's Jenna. Mainly because I feel I can talk about guys and sex with another woman but not with a guy I have insane sexual tension with who's married. Or a guy who has only had sex with me!" Hannah's eyes grew wider and she covered her mouth with her hands before she spoke against her palms. "I'm sorry Spencer. That didn't come out the way I wanted it to. I'm not the only woman you've slept with and I didn't mean to-"

"You went back to the bar after our fight?" Spencer ignored her outburst and subsequent rant as he continued with his own inquires. "When did you call Jenna?"

"I went to Martin's Tavern. Half an hour later I called Jenna for a ride. Aaron never showed up."

"When was the next time you talked to Hotch after that night?"

"I saw Aaron the next morning. He came over to Jenna's to talk and we had a fight." Hannah paused to get her breathing under control. Memories of that fight still got to her. "He left for work, I went to work, and after your latest case he stormed into my office and yelled at me for keeping your nightmares from him and keeping him out of the loop after we agreed to keep each other in the loop because I perceived your behavior after Texas as somewhat troubling and I told Aaron so!"

"Why would you tell him that?"

"Because I was worried about you and you were withholding from me!"

"I couldn't talk to you, you were drunk and freaking out about my job! What did you tell Hotch?"

"I freaked out because you were bragging about something you shouldn't have! I told him that you were deflecting about the Texas case. Are you going to deny it?"

"No, but that's none of Hotch's business."

"You weren't alone with the gunman on that train Spencer! Elle was with you. And if something puts a member of his team off their game, then it is his business."

"Not this! I told you before I had the situation on the train under control and I did."

"Then why the deflection?"

"Because the gunman reminded me of my mother!" Spencer lowered his voice as he walked over to the window. "He had a voice in his head named Leo. I thought of the voices my mother hears."

"Schizophrenia." Hannah said under her breath before she spoke louder. "Why couldn't you have just told me the truth that night?"

"I wanted to, but it just felt easier not to. It felt like a weight would fall on me if I told you that."

The possibility that he could inherit his mother's mental illness scared Spencer more than anything else in the world. More than the dark scared him. As the daughter of famous psychologist parents, Hannah understood his fear better than most people.

"I need to finish changing for dinner." Hannah said as she grabbed her toiletry bag out off her luggage and walk away.

The conversation needed an abrupt death, but Spencer disagreed.

"We're not done talking about Hotch." Spencer said as Hannah reached for the bathroom door.

She stopped and half turned.

"What more do you want me to say Spencer?"

"I want to know that you won't tell Hotch everything about me or about us. We deserve our privacy. I deserve my privacy!"

"Fine, but that's a two way street Spencer."

"What?"

"You want to keep some things private from Aaron, I'm sure he'll want to keep some things private from you, especially when it comes to his relationship with me."

"I thought nothing was going on."

"Nothing's going on, save for the sexual tension."

"Don't forget the kiss."

"Yes, let's not forget the one fucking kiss Spencer. That's all that's going to happen."

"For now."

The second he said it Spencer realized his mistake. Hannah marched into the bathroom and slammed the door. Spencer heard through the door the unmistakable sound of her bag as it hit the wall.

"Hannah!" Spencer crossed the room and opened the bathroom door, surprised Hannah hadn't locked it. "I didn't mean it that way."

"Bullshit. Don't you ever call me the other woman. I don't sleep with married men, Spencer! Haley is my friend. I would never betray her by sleeping with her husband! And Aaron would never cheat on her."

"You took it the wrong way Hannah. I was referring to the divorce rate for FBI agents."

"Bullshit Spencer, and I swear if you quote that statistic at me I will get back on a plane. I came to Vegas this weekend so we could spend time together and have fun, not argue about the Hotchner's and divorce rates in the FBI! The fighting stops now and we go have fun this weekend, or I say hello to Diana before I catch a flight home. We barely get any time alone, away from everybody and everything in DC, so I am not going to waste another minute of this weekend fighting with you." Hannah stared right into Spencer's eyes the entire time, and he jotted a mental note that he should never cross her like this again. "Can we please go out to dinner now?"

"I'm sorry." Spencer meant it. "I never meant to start a fight."

"Can we just talk about this after the weekend? Take some time to think about everything and have a civil discussion in a few days?"

"Yes." Spencer nodded. "Go shower and we can eat."

"Will you tell me where did you made the reservations?"

"Il Mulino." Spencer said with a grin.

The reservations required a small favor for an old high school friend, but Spencer didn't care. Hannah loved that restaurant.

"Are you serious? Give me fifteen minutes!" Hannah opened her toiletry bag and dumped the contents onto the counter as she searched for her shampoo, conditioner, hairbrush, and blow dryer.

"Can I see your outfit?"

"You'll see after my shower. Go change. Close the door and no peeking."

Hannah winked and Spencer closed the door. He didn't hear from her for the next ten minutes as she showered and he changed.

"Damn it!" Hannah called through the bathroom door. "Spencer can you bring me the red dress in my bag?"

Spencer dug through the bag until he found a red dress he did not recognize.

"Got it! I think."

"It's new! And can you take these clothes and just put them on the bed?"

"Yes." Spencer knocked once and said, "Exchange."

"Here." Hannah opened the door wrapped in a big towel, and as she traded her plane clothes for the dress, she checked Spencer out. "Looking good Spencer."

"Thank you." Spencer felt heat on his cheeks.

"Five more minutes." Hannah kissed him on the cheek and closed the door. "Okay?"

"You know I'm going to time that."

"Because you're neurotic that way! Besides, when have I ever finished in the time I said I would?"

"Four point eight percent of the time."

"I am not a statistic Spencer!"

"Everything is a statistic!"

Spencer said it as a joke and could just see Hannah roll her eyes at him in the mirror.

"Oh really? And what's the statistic of women killing their boyfriends and claiming temporary insanity?"

The threat Hannah used before, though never in earnest. She used it as a signal that his statistics obsession bugged her and he should stop.

"I'll stop talking statistics." Spencer said, even though the answer to her question popped into his head.

"Thank you!" Hannah said before she turned the blower dryer on.

Spencer laughed at her, low enough that she couldn't hear him even with the blow dryer turned minutes after she asked for five more minutes, Hannah reappeared from the bathroom. Spencer looked up and his jaw dropped.

The new red silk dress looked damn good on her. She looked like she just floated down from Mount Olympus for an evening out with him. At that moment, he forgot about their fighting and Hotch. Instead, Spencer thought he couldn't have any more currency left in luck. He'd spent it all for her and didn't regret it one bit. Spencer knew what he wanted to do with Hannah after dinner. Maybe even before.

A moment later Spencer knelt in front of Hannah, his face pressed against her thigh as his hands crept up the back of her legs. She giggled and ran her fingers through his hair.

"And now we're going to lose our reservation." Hannah said as Spencer forked a finger over the top of her panties.

"No, we still have half an hour." Spencer said as he pulled them down.

Hannah pulled the tie off his shoulders and tossed it onto the chair. Her dress followed.


	13. What Fresh Hell

Chapter 12

**What Fresh Hell?**

The morning after the team returned from Tennessee, Aaron stopped in front of Hannah's office door at six in the morning with two coffees. When he thought about coffee before work, he also thought about Hannah and decided to bring her coffee to apologize for his behavior last week. He drove through her faculty parking lot and spotted her car before he stopped at her favorite coffee shop and picked up the drinks. Now he looked at the two coffees, the closed door, and back at the coffees again. No one else hung out in the hallway this early and most of the other professors arrived at normal hours, like seven or eight, so he stacked one coffee on top of the other and opened the door. At the same moment he wondered if he should have knocked first.

Hannah looked up from her sofa and when Aaron saw her, he swallowed before he closed the door behind him. She wore a pale blue camisole that complimented her dark eyes, with the sarong that she used for her tea table wrapped around her waist. It fell down to her knees. A light gray suit lay on the chair within arms reach. He spotted her classroom shoes under the chair. Aaron noted he couldn't sit with her, as she hogged the whole love seat. Her legs hung off one end and a thin silver anklet twinkled in the light. Hannah set the paper she just finished grading on the ground and picked up another one.

"Damn it. I knew I should have locked that door." Hannah did not sound overjoyed, or even sarcastic.

He thought he'dleft her alone for long enough.

"I don't think that's appropriate for school." Aaron said as his eyes traveled up and down her legs.

"What's wrong with this attire? I'm dressed and I'm comfortable. It's six in the freaking morning and I promised my students I would give them back their papers today, so I'm going to wear what I damn well want to right now."

"I like it."

Aaron grinned until Hannah gave him a foul look and he stopped. She sniffed the air.

"Coffee?"

"Yes."

"For me?"

"Depends on if I can have a seat."

"Move the suit."

"On the sofa."

They both looked at Hannah's bare legs and after she thought about it for a few seconds, she scooted up and curled her legs up against her body. When she gave him the nod of permission, Aaron sat and handed her one coffee. She sipped, closed her eyes and smiled.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Feel less cranky now?"

"Nope." Hannah said as she peered at Aaron through slitted eyelids.

"Did you have fun in Vegas?"

"Yes." Hannah said as she drew in another sip. "Good food, good entertainment, Diana's always a riot. We had fun. You?"

"Spent it with Haley and Jack. I wish the weekend didn't have to end."

"I know what you mean."

Hannah smiled and a quick blush flew over Aaron's cheeks but he regained his composure and asked her a question.

"We haven't spoken since you said you would talk with Reid."

"Students handed in one paper and asked for their grades from the previous." Hannah swallowed a gulp. "Besides, you guys took off for Tennessee on Monday morning and had a very interesting case from what Spencer's told me."

"Reid didn't say anything to me about your weekend." Aaron said again.

After a pause long enough for a deep breath, Hannah lowered her coffee and looked Aaron in the eye.

"That's because he wants his privacy back."

"His privacy."

"Yes, his privacy. Spencer didn't tell me about the nightmares because he doesn't believe I keep his confidences. He has a point."

"But you don't tell me everything."

"And I told him that. I tell Jenna everything and I told him that too. He knew about Jenna but it's going to take some time before he believes that I'm not blabbing all his secrets to you. So, I've decided to stop talking to you about Spencer."

"Okay. That makes sense." As Aaron studied her for a moment, he picked up a hint of sadness from her eyes. "Are you two all right?"

"We're better now that we've had this talk." The way she said it, it sound final, and not just her answer, but the entire conversation.

"Good." Aaron said after a long pause as he tried to think up with something better, and longer, but couldn't think of anything after her decisive answer.

He stood up and glanced at the door, but Hannah's tone stopped him.

"Wait." Hannah waited until he turned around. "You're going to want to sit back down for this."

"What's going on?" Aaron said after he sat.

"Spencer knows about us."

"Knows what?" Hotch said, but the fear in his eyes told Hannah he already knew the answer.

"That we have intense sexual tension and we've been flirting the past two years."

The bluntness of her statement did not help as Aaron absorbed the information while his eyes widened.

"How long has he known?"

"The entire time. Since the first team barbeque we attended."

"That long." Aaron drew back into his mind for a moment, and returned a few seconds later. "He's never said anything to me."

"Or to me. But he's not mad."

That earned Hannah a sideways glance before Aaron turned his head and stared at her.

"He's not?"

"Our relationship has always been open and I've always flirted with other guys. Spencer's used to it. He saw us talking at the first team barbeque we went to and recognized my flirtation style. He also noticed that my pupil's dilate when I look at you, and the same thing happens to you when you look at me."

"We tried to hide all of that."

"Yeah, from a profiler!"

"Do you think the rest of the team knows?"

"I wouldn't be surprised at all if they did. They're all profilers Aaron. Except for Pen and JJ, but those two are are damn smart. And observant."

"What about my wife?" Aaron interrupted her. "Do you think she knows?"

"If Haley knows anything, she would have mentioned something during our beach trip last year, right before you knocked her up." Hannah allowed herself a small smile. "Your wife really can't hold her alcohol."

"I know. Jessica calls her 'Loose Lips'." Aaron said offhand, still very serious and worried. "Are you sure she doesn't know anything?"

"Haley knows we're good friends. She knows you come home every night that you're in town. She knows you'll call her if you're going to be late because you're with friends and she knows that you sleep next to her at night. And she invited me to the hospital when she was waiting for Jack. Those are all signs that she either doesn't know about us or that she does know about our flirtations but it doesn't scare her. She's confident you have a strong marriage and won't have an affair. And I know that she is aware of my rule about married men because I told her about it at the beach." Hannah cracked under Aaron's seriousness and lost her composure, and flashed him a grin. "I'm fairly certain she doesn't know, but if you want confirmation I can take her back to the beach and get her drunk again. It's a fantastic interrogation technique."

The joke broke his serious demeanor and he joked back.

"You know, you would make a fantastic profiler, but first I recommend working on your poker face."

"Not a good idea. I would break so many laws and shoot all the unsubs."

"Does Reid know how you feel about his work?"

"Spencer knows I fear erotomaniacs and sleep with a gun under his pillow when he's out of town. Otherwise it's in my bed stand."

"Hopefully no one will ever break in."

"Agreed." Hannah poked him with her toe. "Don't worry about Haley."

"I'm trying not to." Aaron poked her toe and she pulled her foot back. "I don't want to lose her or Jack."

"You won't."

"You can't know that for sure."

"Aaron, what is the sign on my door?" Hannah pointed at her closed door, which held small posters from her favorite adaptations. "With the red slash through it?"

Aaron glanced at the door and recalled the other side.

"Pessimism free zone?"

"Exactly. Now this is usually where I say let's go to the bar, but you have to go to work and hunt down bad guys, and I have papers to finish grading and impressionable young minds to mold and corrupt."

"Or we could both call in sick and go have fun like a couple of college students ditching classes."

"Tempted, but Spencer would figure that one out within the hour. You don't get sick and this morning when I kissed him before leaving for work, I was in perfect health."

"We'll have to plan it in advance. Next Wednesday?"

"You're becoming a bad influence."

"If anyone is the bad influence in this relationship, it's you."

Hannah held her coffee up in the air with a maniacal look in her eye.

"I hope you have a fresh shirt in your car."

"No, don't." Aaron pushed her coffee away. "I will never bring you coffee again if you do."

"Then leave your pessimism outside my door and don't call me a bad influence." Hannah said as she drank her coffee.

"Okay." Aaron said and watched her coffee cup with a hawk's eyes and a cat's grin.

"And don't smile at me like that. It makes me not trust you."

"Why wouldn't you trust me?"

"Because you mock me."

"I would never." Aaron put a hand over his wounded heart.

Their eyes met and stayed on each other until Hannah looked away first.

"Staring contests with you suck. You're too good."

"You're good too. One of the worthiest opponents I've ever met."

"Thank you. Now go to work."

Her foot darted out from beneath her, but Aaron grabbed her ankle before she could kick him in the ass.

"Are you kicking me out?" Aaron said as he tickled her toes and received a swift kick from her other foot.

"Yes. Your presence is distracting me."

"Distracting?" Aaron stared at her. "I'm not the one dressed for a music festival at the beach."

After he said beach Aaron looked away but Hannah didn't notice. She laughed and prodded him with her toe.

"Get your mind out of the gutter Aaron! It's a warm day and I wasn't expecting anyone for another hour at least." She saw his eyes on her body and said, "You seem distracted and by the look on your face, I don't think you're imagining me in a bikini."

"I'm worried."

"About what?"

"Reid knows, the team probably knows, Haley might kn-"

A hand pressed against his mouth. Aaron looked over and saw a very annoyed Hannah on the other end of that hand.

"Aaron. Shut. Up!"

After he signaled with a firm nod she removed her hand, but Aaron wouldn't let the subject go.

"What exactly did Reid say to you this weekend?"

"I told you what he said."

"You gave me the highlights."

"Yes, and I also told you that Spencer wants me to stop sharing so much private information about him with you. Will you stop freaking out about this? It's not like we didn't think this would ever happen."

"I hoped this would never happen."

For five long seconds Hannah just stared at him before she rolled her eyes.

"Wow Aaron. For such a damn good profiler, you can be so blind sometimes."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means your judgment is clouded."

"You're right. It is. You're the one who's clouding it."

"Well thank you, but I'll remind you that it's your mind. I can't cloud it alone!"

Hannah rose from the sofa in anger and headed for her desk, coffee in hand.

"Don't take it personally." Aaron said as he stood and followed her.

"That is the stupidest thing you can say, don't take it personally."

"You know how you effect me Hannah."

"You're the one who showed up at my office at six in the morning with coffee."

"I didn't expect you would dress like this."

"Oh shut up! I'm not wearing lingerie. You just showed up without calling, without even knocking, so don't blame me for your clouded judgment! Four fingers point back at you."

Hannah set her coffee cup down on her desk two seconds before Aaron's fingers grasped her elbow and spun her around. He pulled her in and kissed her, his arms around her. Hannah reacted with her body and not her mind. She kissed him back as her hands climbed his chest. When his fingers vanished under her top and she felt skin on skin, Hannah's mind turned back on and she recognized their situation. Aaron found himself pushed away, just before he recognized his mistake.

"I'm sorry." Aaron said.

"Damn you, and me." Hannah shoved him again. "What were you thinking?"

"Thought had nothing to do with it."

"Obviously. Don't you feel that we've had enough trouble? Then you go and kiss me."

"You kissed me back!"

"Shut up Aaron! I promised Spencer our last kiss was our one and only. You made me a liar!"

"You told him we kissed?" Aaron's voice grew louder. "Why would you do that? Why did you tell him we kissed?"

"Don't you dare lecture me about what I tell Spencer."

"Then you shouldn't make promises you can't keep, and you shouldn't tell him things that will hurt my working relationship with him."

"Get your head out of your ass Aaron. Spencer won't bring it up."

"You better hope he doesn't!"

"Is that supposed to be some kind of a threat?"

"I'm leaving." Aaron took two cautious steps back toward the door. "I cannot be around you right now. Maybe coming here this morning was a bad idea. All I wanted to do was apologize, and I have, bow we're worse off than we were before."

"That's not my fault. You were the one who instigated the kiss." Hannah beat Aaron to the door and opened it for him. "You're right, you should leave!"

* * *

From the texts Spencer sent on his way home, the Delaware case troubled him. Hannah understood why. Child abductions bothered him, but not just bothered him, they tore at his soul and haunted him. It had less to do with Lily and their other nieces and nephews, like the team believed, and more to do with his own past as an only child with divorced parents.

Once he text that he'd be home in ten minutes, she shut off the music on her laptop and paced through the kitchen, dining room, and foyer. The sound of his car door as it slammed shut sent Hannah across the house and through the front door before Spencer even made it up the steps.

"Spencer!" Hannah grabbed him in a hug and smiled a bit when he hugged her back. "Are you all right?"

For the next couple of seconds Spencer smelled her hair, nuzzled her neck, and kissed her below her ear before he answered.

"The girl is alive and it doesn't look like she was abused."

"That's great news but that wasn't my question." Hannah disentangled and looked Spencer in the eyes. "I worry about you after cases having to do with children."

Spencer broke eye contact and walked inside the townhouse.

"I'm fine Hannah. I want to talk about something else." Spencer hung his bag on the staircase and headed for the kitchen, while Hannah trailed him and rolled her eyes as she made choking motions with her hands. "Have you spoken with Hotch since we returned from Vegas?"

"Yes, I talked to him." Hannah said with a sigh and dropped her arms to her side as Spencer turned around. "He came by my office with coffee the morning after the team returned from Tennessee and I outlined the highlights of our conversation. He understands that you want your privacy and he's sorry that he made you feel that you can't confide in me."

"Did you tell him I know about the flirting?"

"Yes."

"He hasn't said anything."

"Because Aaron's mortified Spencer, so don't expect him to. This hasn't been easy for either of us. Aaron is married and devoted to Haley, but he can't help how he feels about me, same as I can't help how I feel about him. He's not going to bring it up with you because that's an awkward conversation he does not want to have, so please don't bring it up with him."

With a nod of agreement Spencer headed for the kitchen again.

"I don't want to have that conversation with Hotch either, which is why I'm invoking rule three with you right now."

Hannah rushed ahead of Spencer so she could see his face. She hadn't seen him this serious in a long time.

"Rule three? Spencer, rule three is only for romantic relationships. Aaron and I have been friends for years and we are not romantically involved."

"But you kissed."

"Aaron and I are not involved!" Hannah said as she turned around and stormed into the living room.

"Don't delude yourself Hannah. If you didn't have rule one, you would have already slept with him!"

"You son of a bitch!" Hannah's hands clenched. "You son-"

"Don't get mad at me. You're the one who can't control herself, which is why we created rule three in the first place. Now tell me what's been going on, or do I have to invoke rule three with Hotch, as I am allowed to as your primary relationship?"

"No!" Hannah walked past him, settled into the far corner of the couch, tucked her feet up and wrapped her arms around her legs. "You win. Rule three. Go ahead and ask me anything."

Spencer took the other end of the sofa and faced Hannah, his elbows on his knees and his fingers curled together under his chin.

"Then tell me everything, and don't leave anything out."

It took Hannah a over an hour to explain all the encounters she had with Aaron that dealt with their sexual tension. She began with the gun range over two years ago, talked through the hospital fight, and ended with the second kiss in her office before she kicked Aaron out.

"Now it's your turn to say something." Hannah said once she finished, and then her voice pitched as she leaned forward. "Please?"

"Why did you keep this from me for so long?"

"Because he's your boss and married and nothing happened between us for two years-"

"In the past two and a half months you and Hotch have kissed twice, you nearly disrobed for him in Jenna's study-"

"Hey!"

"Physically fought in a hospital corridor and stairwell-"

"You weren't there Spencer, that is not-"

"And then you threw him out of your office again eight days ago after he kissed you a second time."

"Stop it! You have no idea what has been happening-"

"No idea? You just spent the past hour telling me everything!"

"First of all, he has never assaulted me. How dare you accuse him-'

"How else would you characterize what happened at the hospital?"

"A lover's quarrel!" Hannah said and clapped one hand over her mouth as she propelled her body off the sofa.

"I thought you didn't break your first rule."

"Damn it Spencer, I didn't sleep with him! And how dare you call the fight at the hospital an assault! Yes it was intense, but it wasn't a violent assault. He has never struck me. Hell, our fight at Jenna's was way more intense than the hospital fight. Yes, I almost dropped my bathrobe and tore his clothes off, but Aaron wouldn't let me. We are both at fault for what has happened between us, but I'm the one that can't stop myself."

"No, you both have that problem."

"I've realized what's wrong with our relationship and with us, and now he needs to think about that like I have. But," Hannah sank back onto the sofa. "I am a realist, so I'm worried."

"Are you worried because you think things between you two are going to get worse before they get better, or that he won't back down?"

"Won't back down? This is Aaron Hotchner we're talking about. He's one of the most straight laced and in control people we know."

"Except when it comes to you."

"I'll admit Aaron is intense. He has passion for his work, his family, his friends-"

"You."

"A far bit more than you've shown me you jealous bastard!" Hannah said as she jumped off the sofa.

"I sorry I can't be what you want me to be!"

"I've never tried to make you be anyone else. Have I changed your wardrobe, your hair, forced you to do things that make you uncomfortable? No! I have never tried to change you because I love you for you. I don't know how you could say that. How could you feel...is that what you think of our relationship? You are the love of my fucking life Spencer, not Aaron. I get butterflies just thinking about you, when I see your texts or calls, when I pack up my office at the end of the day and remember that you're home or you're going to be home. Each time I wake up next to you! Everything I do with you, even the simple things, I feel happy and warm and I feel loved, by you, even though I know you have never loved me as strongly as I have loved you. I know I am not the love of your life as you are mine and I wish for you to someday meet that person, but in the meantime could you just love me and accept me for the mess that I am?" Hannah said before she turned and marched off.

A hand snatched her around the waist. Hannah felt Spencer's body connect with hers. His chin touched the top of her head and then he nuzzled her hair with his nose before he whispered in her ear.

"I'm sorry."

"I wanted to be honest with you, open, like we agreed upon when we created rule three, but then you just freaked out on me."

"Hannah, I reacted like that because your relationship with Aaron worries me."

"I'm afraid neither one of us has put as much effort into ceasing the sexual tension as we should."

Spencer's arms settled on Hannah's shoulders and turned her around.

"What do you mean?"

"I am trying my damnedest to back off but it's difficult when he won't stop it with the random kisses and come-ons! Trust me Spencer, Aaron and I have work to do, but nothing more is going to happen because I am _thisclose_ to throat punching him if he doesn't start backing himself down. We both need to shift our gears into full reverse, because the gun range knocked us out of neutral."

"Okay."

"Okay? Could you say something more than okay?"

"There's nothing left for me to say."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"This is between you and Hotch."

"You're not going to interfere or anything?"

"Only if I have to. You both know the rules and Hotch knows what I'll do if he hurts you."

"You'll have to get in line behind me."

"Have I ever told you how cute you are when you're contemplating homicide?"

"Watch yourself mister."

Hannah kissed him and propelled him toward the sofa. She straddled him and kissed each side of his neck before she moved away. Spencer pulled her close until her back rested on his chest and her hair tickled his arm. She stretched her legs on the cushions and looked up at him.

"Do you want to get Japanese food?" Hannah said after a minute of silence. "I feel like sushi."

"Sushi. Yes."

"I have an idea."

"What?"

"Now just keep an open mind about this." Hannah whispered in his ear, and as she did so, his eyes grew wide and his jaw feel toward the floor. "How does that sound?"

"Do you know any sushi places that deliver?"

Hannah grinned.


	14. Poison

Chapter 13

**Poison**

"I need to talk to you. Now." Aaron said as he walked into Hannah's office and closed the door behind him. "I can't stop thinking about you or our last fight or that letter, even while I was working this case in New Jersey. This has to stop."

Hannah closed her grade book, stood up, and walked around her desk toward him.

"I couldn't agree more, but we're not having this conversation in my office. We've kissed twice in this office."

After a long moment Aaron spoke.

"I'm not going to kiss you."

His less than immediate reaction earned an eye roll from Hannah and she turned back towards her desk, her eyes searching for her purse.

"You say that now but you just walked in and started an argument with me. The last time we argued in here, you kissed me. I know we need to talk about this, but we're not discussing it where no one can see us and we can get away with behavior like that."

Hannah didn't see her purse or phone on the desk and turned back around to find Aaron standing not even two inches in front of her.

"Stop talking." Aaron said before he slipped one hand behind her neck and the other under her butt, lifting her up and holding her body against his as he kissed her.

As she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist, Hannah kissed him back.

"Lock the door lock the door lock the door." Hannah said in one hurried breathe after Aaron stopped kissing her mouth and moved his lips down the nape of her neck.

He backed up, one hand holding her up as he searched behind him for the doorknob. Hannah found the knob first and locked it. With the door locked, Aaron turned them around and set her against the wood, but after a few seconds Hannah remembered a few classes getting out in a couple of minutes. She tapped on his shoulder and tried taking back control of her mouth, but he tasted too good to release. Aaron agreed too. His kisses became even more passionate and a bit aggressive. Hannah turned aggressive too, pulling his tie loose and running her nails through his hair. She heard a groan from Aaron when she did that. He responded by putting a hand under her blouse, running his fingers over her skin and under her bra, cupping and then massaging her breast with more and more force. A minute passed during all of this before Hannah heard voices coming down the hallway. After a couple of jabs Aaron stopped kissing her.

"What?"

"Students in the hallway. Not against the door."

Aaron nodded and carried her over to the sofa. The moment he set her down, he started unbuttoning her trousers, but she stopped that with a sharp slap on his hand. Aaron misinterpreted that she wanted to do it herself and started kissing her again. With his weight on top of her and his continuing kisses covering her mouth, Hannah found it very difficult to pull her head away and stop him. She liked his lips on hers, and his hand on her breasts, fingering her nipple, but when his free hand unzipped her trousers and then moved to his own, she stuck her knuckles in his sternum and pushed him up.

"Hannah!" Aaron said in pain.

He found his mouth covered by her hand as she glanced at the door behind him and put a finger against her lips. He nodded and when she moved her hand away he started kissing her again. For two seconds Hannah kissed him back, then pushed him away again.

"No, Aaron, we have to stop! We have to stop right now or we will cross that line and I don't want to cross that line." Hannah looked right into his eyes and said, "Aaron, you don't want to cross that line either. You swore you would remain faithful to Haley. You choose her."

Silent and a bit ashamed, Aaron backed away and zipped his trousers, then sank back onto the sofa next to Hannah when she moved her feet.

"Hannah, I'm so sorry."

"It's not just you. I was into it too. What the fuck are we doing, Aaron?" Aaron glanced over at her, his eyes wide as the color drained from his face. "Okay, bad word choice."

"I shouldn't have done that. I said I wouldn't kiss you and then five seconds later I'm kissing you."

"Aaron, I kissed you back."

They both fell quiet after that, Hannah watching Aaron as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. The silence felt peaceful. Without trying, they both found a breathing pattern to calm them.

"Aaron," Hannah glanced away for a moment before she looked him in the eyes and said, "Why haven't we said the words?"

"The words?"

"You know which words I'm speaking of. Why haven't we said them even once these past two years?"

"We never needed to say them."

"Why?"

"We see the words in our eyes." Aaron smiled as he said, "And I did not mean for that too sound as corny as it did."

"Don't worry. I understand what you mean."

"Good."

"So you see them in my eyes?"

"Every time we look at each other. Don't you see them in mine?"

"Yes," Hannah set her head on Aaron's chest and said, "And it drives me crazy."

As he touched her hair and kissed the top of her head, Aaron said the words that drove them both crazy.

"I love you, but we both want what we can't have."

Against her better judgment, Hannah slipped her hand under Aaron's dress shirt and caressed his chest. When he made no move to stop her, she stared into his eyes.

"You want to screw me on this sofa."

"So do you."

Hannah pulled her hand away and lifted her head off his chest.

"You're impossible Aaron."

"As are you but that doesn't make me want to leave."

They didn't speak again for a few minutes, or look at each other. Hannah tapped out a tune on the ball of her foot, while Aaron looked at her wall decorations behind him. Just as he noticed something new, Hannah grabbed his tie and directed his attention back to her. The look on her face, and the fact she sat on her knees facing him, told Aaron she had to get something cleared away. He touched her hand expecting one thing, but she drew it away and folded her hands on her lap.

"Aaron, I don't want you leaving your wife for me. If you did that, I wouldn't let you have me."

After a short pause to absorb her meaning, Aaron nodded.

"I know. That's one of the things I love about you the most, Hannah. You won't compromise your morals. For anyone. Even those you love."

Hannah's head sank onto his chest as she tightened her jaw. Tears threatened to flow and Hannah swallowed before she spoke. She couldn't let her voice crack. It would lead to one th**ing**, then another, and cause them both more pain and misery than they felt even now.

"Why did I have to go and fall in love with you? I think I may go mad."

With a squeeze to reassure her, and a grin she couldn't see with her head still on his chest, Aaron tried to take her mind off the subject.

"I won't let you go mad, at least not alone, because I'll be accompanying you the entire way."

"Aaron, there are no co-ed rooms in insane asylums. I know this cause I've toured a few."

"What a strange childhood you had."

"You don't even know the half of it."

Hannah buried her face deeper in Aaron's chest and he held her tighter, breathing in the scent of her hair and breathing with her until he noticed the depth of her breaths and the damp on her shirt.

"Hannah?" Aaron tried to hold her away to see her face but she clung and refused to let him go. "Hannah!"

The sharp and biting tone startled her. Hannah sat straight up, her eyes moist from tears.

"I'm sorry."

"What's going on? What's wrong?"

"I think I've messed this up even more."

"What are you talking about?"

"Spencer knows everything. He invoked rule three when he came home from Delaware."

"Rule three is only for sexual relationships."

"Well Spencer made the executive decision that this case counts!"

"And what about my privacy?"  
"What about my safety?"

"Your safety? Hannah, I would never hurt you!"

"You would never mean to hurt me, but look at everything we've been through since the damn gun range! You have been very physical with me. Rule three is meant to protect me and Spencer's been worried since I open up to him in Vegas. When he invoked rule three, I had to be completely open and honest with him, on the condition that he doesn't bring any of this up with you. So he knows everything now, except what just happened here today. And I really don't want to tell him about that."

"Everything?"

"Everything. The first and second kiss, the gun range, the hospital stairwell, Jenna's study-"

"Oh shit. You told him about Jenna's study?"

"We've been on very dangerous ground for weeks now, Aaron! At least Spencer's agreed to stay out of it unless something drastic happens and we need intervention. Spencer's leaving us to deal with our own mess and has agreed not to speak to you about any of this. You should be glad I'm not going to tell him that we just made out and came within ten seconds of having sex because you initiated it and I had to put an end to it."

"I'll remind you that you told me to look the door and was as into it as I was, and when you said stop, I stopped. And how can I be glad that you're not planning on telling him about today when you've already told him about Jenna's study? Damn it, Hannah, I have to work with him!"

"And I have to take your wife on a beach trip, get her drunk, and find out what she knows because you don't have the guts to do it yourself!"

"It's not as easy for me as it is for you. Haley and I never expected something like this."

"And you think I did?"

"What other reason would you have for rule one?"

The yank caught him unprepared. Hannah entwined her fingers through the part of his tie about his neck and around the two pieces hanging down, then pulled both. He stared into her eyes. They burned like ice blue fire but the moisture of the tears that began to appear at that moment set out putting those flames down. Aaron saw her in a wide range of emotions over the years, but never quite like this.

"I. Hate. That. I. Love. You. And. Can. Not. Have. You." Hannah took a deep breath but this time didn't push the air out through her nose. "I have rule one to protect myself from getting my heart broken, which you are very close to doing I love you Aaron, and it's driving me crazy!"

"I love you too, Hannah, and it drives me crazy."

Hannah burrowed in at Aaron's side, her arms wrapped around him, her head resting on his upper chest.

Settling back on the sofa, Aaron pulled her closer.

"This feels good. Just sitting here with you."

"I agree." Hannah tapped his leg with her knee. "Take off your shoes."

"Why?"

"I rarely wear shoes in my office. Take yours off and get comfortable. The tie needs to go too."

"What do you have against my ties?"

"They're either an implement to strangle you with when you're uptight and humorless, or a device for holding you hostage as I kiss you."

"I disagree with the first and embrace the second."

"We're not doing that, now take it off."

"Just what exactly are we doing once I take off my shoes and tie?" Aaron said as he removed both articles.

"We are going to sit here and enjoy each others company until you have to leave. We can do this quietly, just sitting in silence, or we can talk. I don't prefer one over the other, so it's up to you."

"We're going to be interrupted by a student, aren't we?"

"Now that you've jinxed it we will."

"Then I'll knock on wood."

"You would have to get up to knock on wood." Hannah tightened her grip around his torso. "That's not happening."

"Then a student is going to knock on the door."

"I'll tell them to go away. Are we going to keep talking about this or are we going to find a more suitable subject to discuss or just be silent?"

"I did walk in here with a purpose."

"I remember, and there is no suitable solution to that issue besides avoiding making out or having sex. We should work harder on that."

"Yes, that is a major issue, but the problem I walked in here with is how I can't get you off my mind."

"I have a solution to your problem of thinking about me even when you're working a case."

"What's your solution?"

"Pinch yourself."

"What?"

"It works. I do it all the time. Just the webbing of your hand is enough to do it."

"I'll try that, but I don't think it will be enough."

"Aaron, you're married with a son and you're in love with your subordinate's girlfriend who won't engage in a sexual relationship with a married man, which gives you no outlet for your frustrations. You'll have to make this work."

"Good point. I've never met anyone more frustrating that you. That's including Reid."

"He grows on you."

"He has. What's the trick for getting him off his rants?"

"Distraction. Also, getting him back on task and to the main point works a lot of the time. Are you having trouble with him?"

"No."

They fell back into a peaceful silence, save for Aaron's heart beating in Hannah's ear. When Aaron knew he needed to head home, he moved slow, putting on one shoe, then the other, wrapping his tie around his neck, getting it straight, fixing his hair, then tucking in his shirt. Hannah watched him the entire time from the sofa, directing his grooming with helpful reminders.

Once he finished, Aaron turned once in the middle of the office, and when he had Hannah's approval, he kissed her on the cheek and left.


	15. Riding the Lightning

Chapter 14

**Riding The Lightning**

A few hours before he flew across the country for the prison interview, Spencer slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Hannah. The night before she mixed up some margarita's with extra rum. Each time she left her drink alone, Spencer poured a little of his into her glass. Now he felt guilty and decided to whip her up a good breakfast and give her an extra half hour of sleep. He skipped the shower, worried that the sound might wake her. Downstairs, he straightened up the mess from last night's tryst and moved the furniture back, then headed into the kitchen.

As the pancakes sizzled on the griddle, each the size of a silver dollar, Hannah stumbled down the stairs and ran into every piece of furniture she'd moved the night before. Each time she cursed and questioned the offending piece.

"Morning Hannah." Spencer said in a whisper before Hannah even entered the kitchen.

She heard him and under her breath told him what kind of morning he could have. For a moment Spencer wondered if Hotch ever saw this side of her, and how he would react to the storm if he did. Then he remembered Hannah saying Hotch showed up at Jenna's to talk to her the morning after their fight about Texas, and realized how hungover Hannah must have been during that conversation. He pitied Hotch for having to deal with their sexual tension in the midst of that turmoil.

"You almost put me into a coma last night slipping me half your drink." Hannah said as she sunk onto a kitchen chair and plopped her head down on her arms.

"Babe, if any night of drinking alcohol could have put you into a coma, it was definitely your twenty-first birthday. Also, you drink at least five times what you drank last night every time you go to the bar with Jenna."

Hannah raised her head off her arms so she could stare daggers into the back of his head. He felt her eyes on him and busied himself with flipping each pancake.

"Spencer, stop talking about alcohol."

"Want to talk about pancakes?"

"Pancakes?"

The uptick in her tone gave Spencer hope that he could secure her forgiveness with his baking. He made great pancakes. Hannah requested them when sick, hungover, or annoyed at something in her day and the fact she couldn't chill out and relax with a joint. In college when he accompanied her to parties and they ended up staying the night, he commandeered the kitchen in the morning and whipped together comfort food for everyone.

Spencer motioned to the preparations set up on the counter as he walked over to the cabinet where they kept the syrup.

"Buttermilk pancakes served with melted butter and we have problem because we don't have any syrup."

The empty space on the shelf presented a problem. Spencer calculated how long he needed to run to the nearest supermarket, using about a dozen variables like how long he needed to put on appropriate clothes, wind speed and traffic, while weighing them against leaving a hungover Hannah alone with the pancakes. At this point he didn't believe she would leave him any in retaliation for what he did last night.

Growing up the youngest with as many brothers and sisters as she had, Hannah learned early in life the art of retribution. He laughed at the stories he heard or the situations he witnessed when one of her siblings crossed her, but sometimes Hannah also scared him. Hotch told him about the paper target with the perforated belly. Spencer didn't mention that he'd seen Hannah do that before, when her grandfather gave her the revolver for her eighteenth birthday.

"I used up the syrup last time you were out of town on a case."

Spencer did the math on that in his head in two seconds but needed another three before he pointed out the problem.

"That was a week ago Hannah. You haven't bought more?"

"Sorry." Hannah shrugged as she gave him a lopsided smile, both signs she really wasn't sorry. "We can always just dip the pancakes in the butter. You made silver dollars, right?"

"Yes, I made silver dollars." Spencer closed the cabinet and started transporting breakfast from the counter and stove-top onto the kitchen table. "Buy syrup before I get back tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Oh yeah!" Hannah snagged a silver dollar pancake and devoured it without butter as she spoke. "The prison interview in California. When do you leave?"

"As soon as Hotch calls."

* * *

The day after the team returned from California in the wee hours of the morning, Spencer crawling into bed and trying not to wake her, Hannah lounged in her office, laying upside down on her sofa as she read. Her own classes over, no appointments on her schedule, and no papers to grade, she looked forward to the few hours she had to herself this evening. Hidden from view in a small cabinet that doubled as her tea table by use of the sarong she draped over it, Hannah kept a stack of action adventure and cop serial paperbacks. One of her guilty pleasures. Tonight she decided she would dive into one with a very charismatic cop named Davenport, but a third of the way through it, Aaron tried opening her office door to find it locked.

"Hannah, open the door. I know you're in there reading your guilty pleasures."

"Will you shut up?" Hannah shoulder rolled off the sofa and lunged for the door, fumbling with the lock until she opened it and glared at Aaron. "Don't say things like that out in the hallway where someone will hear you! I don't need everyone thinking I read harlequin romances."

"Calm down." Aaron said with a face splitting grin as he gestured at the empty hallway. "There's no one out here."

He grinned at the mild discomfort and panic he just put her through, so Hannah crossed her arms and glared at him, not inviting him in.

"What are you even doing here? You know this is my night for reading whatever the hell I want to."

"Haley kicked me out."

At that, Hannah's eyes lit up.

"Finally!" Hannah pulled him inside and closed and locked the door behind her as she said, "What took her so long?"

Worried that Hannah might instigate a kiss or more, Aaron put his hands up between them and spoke before she could step away from the door.

"I'm kidding Hannah! It was a joke."

"I know." Hannah said with a smile as she unlocked the door then sank onto her sofa. "I'm just teasing you."

"Teasing? Don't do that to me. You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"We both know the blood wasn't just rushing to your heart."

"Now that's just cruel."

"What, you think I'm immune to it? You walked in here with a joke about Haley kicking you out and I nearly forgot my own rules on..." Hannah shook the thought out of her head and sat. "Never mind. Let's not get into that. I'm changing the subject, or at least getting us back on track. Please explain 'Haley kicked me out' because now I'm just confused."

Aaron eyed the empty seat on the sofa and accepted it when Hannah touched the cushion, giving him permission.

"She and Jessica took Jack to a friend's baby shower."

"You are so lucky they didn't drag you along."

"I know."

"But that doesn't explain why you've decided to come bug me when I was looking forward to this."

When she gestured to the book she'd dropped on the floor, Aaron caught half the title, something Prey. He read one once and endorsed the detective's unorthodox style of investigation, though he would never copy it. As Hannah picked it up and put it back in its hiding place, he told her what he showed up for.

"I was mistakenly under the impression that you would take pity on me and accept my invitation to hamburgers and beer at my house, but I suppose I could find someone else."

Hannah perked up in an instant and jumped off the sofa, grabbing his hands and dragging him up.

"You had me at hamburgers. Or beer. They were really close together."

"I thought I would get you at pity."

"No. Let's go." Hannah left the office, dragging Aaron by his wrist, and she moved so fast he had no choice but to keep pace with her until she let go of him. "We need to pick up some beer to go with our burgers."

"I have a six pack in the fridge at home."

She stopped and dropped his wrist as she turned to face him.

"Haley bought you beer?"

"Haley bought us beer. She knows you and I can only agree on Heineken's."

"Did she tell you to hang out with me tonight?"

"She said you can have me until eight thirty, then she'll be home." Aaron glanced down the empty hall behind her much as just as she had glanced down the empty hall behind him when she spoke. "When are you going to find out how much she knows about our relationship?"

"It involves alcohol and she can't be breastfeeding, so during our spring break beach trip."

"Spring break? That's all the way in March, Hannah!"

"Aaron, either I do it my way, which is this way, or you can do it yourself. Up to you."

After two seconds, Aaron handed the full task to her.

"I'll let you talk to her. The conversation will go easier if she's inebriated."

"Or you are." Hannah said as she turned and walked out of the building.

Aaron jogged to catch up with her.

* * *

An hour later they both acted as though the disagreement in the University hallway hadn't happened, and sat down to eat their fresh burgers and drink beer at a picnic table in the Hotchner's backyard. After they each demolished half of their burger in a few bites, Aaron drained half his beer then spoke.

"I want to talk to you about this last case. Has Reid told you anything about it?"

"Nothing yet, and I haven't asked."

"How much does Reid normally share with you about the cases?"

"Not much. I hear more from you than I hear from him. And until a few months ago I heard barely anything from him about the cases, which didn't make sense because he knows you talk to me about them. Something like this case, you would tell me in a heartbeat." Hannah said and held his eye until Aaron looked away, back down at his burger.

He chewed another bite as he figured out how to reply to that statement. When he had it, he took a long swallow from the beer.

"I like your perspective on things."

"So tell me about this one."

He did. Aaron laid out every secret Sarah Jane confided in the team.

"How did you feel about Sarah Jane's decision?" Hannah said when he finished.

"Even though Sarah Jane insisted she die to protect Riley, it still feels like a silver lining in the case. Riley's a good kid, he's nothing like his father, and he has the potential to make a good life. I can understand why Sarah Jane did what she did, to protect him. He should never have to know who his father is. But unfortunately that also means he can never know of his mother's sacrifice." Aaron noticed the more he said, the farther away Hannah's stare became. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Hannah, you were staring at your beer but you were looking through your beer. You only do that when something big is bothering you." Aaron reached across the table, covering her hands with his own, startling her into looking up at him. "What is it?"

She stared at their hands entwined in the middle of the table before she looked up and straight into Aaron's eyes.

"Please don't touch me like that Aaron. I can't stand the lightning."

Aaron pulled his hands away, but he could still feel the lingering electricity left by her soft skin.


	16. Unfinished Business

Chapter 15

**Unfinished Business**

Hours after Haley and Jack returned home and Hannah left, Aaron tossed around in bed. He didn't realize how much he disturbed Haley until she spoke up behind him.

"Aaron, it's one in the morning. Go to sleep."

"I'm sorry," Aaron threw off his covers as he said, "I'll move to the couch."

As he walked out of the room, Haley propped up on one elbow and watched him.

Two minutes later, Aaron sat on the couch thumbing through one of Haley's magazines but not seeing the content. He also didn't see Haley cross the living room, go into the kitchen, and emerge ten seconds later with the last beer uncapped in her hand.

"Here, drink this." Haley rolled her eyes when his hand moved for his holster on automatic. "Your gun is locked in the safe upstairs. Just take the beer and drink it."

Aaron stared at the beer like he'd never seen one before, and at his wife like he hadn't seen her in a very long time. Haley gave up on waiting for him to take it from her, grabbed his hand, pushed the beer against his palm, then closed his fingers around it. He brought it up to his lips all on his own and swallowed a long drink.

"Thank you." Aaron said and wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

"You're out of it tonight. What has you so distracted?" Haley said as she sat down next to him on the couch, her legs curled up against her body, but when he didn't speak after thirty seconds, she broached the subject. "You're in love with Hannah."

Aaron turned his head to stare at Haley so fast he felt a crick in his neck. He put his free hand on the muscle and rubbed.

"What?"

He couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I know that you and Hannah are in love. I saw it at the first team barbeque she came to. Did either one of you had any control over it?" When Aaron didn't speak, Haley said, "I need an answer Aaron."

"We had no control. It's...complicated, and it's damaging our friendship. Are you angry?"

"No, because I know her relationship rules. I know she won't break them. They're so set in stone for her, she can't even fathom breaking them. Hannah is respectful of the institution of marriage, even though she doesn't want to join it. I don't see her as a threat to our marriage."

"Why didn't you say anything before? It's been over two years!"

"Because all I saw was disguised flirting. I also saw Hannah being a good friend to you, and you to her, and Hannah listening to things that I would rather remain happily ignorant about. She's always been more than willing to listen to what troubles you when you come off a case, and then I get my husband back and not an agent or a team leader. I'm not sure if you noticed the change in your behavior after you and Hannah became friends, but I did, and I'm grateful to her for being able to take that load off your shoulders. That being said, I also know that you and Hannah went through some trouble for a few months and you seem to have gotten past it just a few weeks ago. I didn't bring it up then because I didn't have the nerve, but now I want to know what happened, and not just in those few months after Jack was born. I want to know everything."

"Haley-"

"I'm not asking, Aaron, I'm ordering. And I am granting you immunity."

"Immunity?"

"But you have to tell me everything. Here, on this couch, tonight. Deal?"

"Sounds fair."

"You're a lawyer. That's the best deal you're ever going to get. Now start at the beginning. I want to know what really happened when you met Hannah at that gun range."

"Hannah and I spoke for about half an hour in the parking lot before anything happened. I wanted to know more about Reid, she came to me for help getting him through the Academy and onto the team. I also wanted to know more about her. We finished talking and I opened her car door for her. As she started to climb in, she was so close to me...Hannah describes our encounter as an overeager Cupid passing by and thinking we would make a cute couple. I agree with that statement."

"What exactly happened at the car door?"

"We almost kissed. She got her wits back first, before we could, and reminded me of her rule about married men. Hannah had already covered the rules of her relationship with Reid, and entering into other relationships. Then she gave me her card and left. We never addressed what happened in that parking lot. That was our mistake. It's why we were having trouble."

"What started the trouble?"

"Same gun range parking lot, but a different car door.  
"When?"

"This last October."

When Aaron didn't offer up more information than that, Haley poked him in the shoulder.

"Don't be vague, give me details. And let me have a sip of that beer." Haley drank more than a sip, but Aaron didn't say anything. "Now what happened at the gun range?"

"Hannah had a bad day at school, so to blow off some steam, she went to the gun range. Because she didn't have her gun with her, the owner loaned her one of his. A Glock 17, like mine. I'd been trying for years to talk Hannah into trying my gun, but she liked her revolver. When she text to let me know she was shooting with one, I joined her at the range. I could tell something was bothering her because she perforated the target's abdominal area. So when we got outside, I asked her what was wrong and she started venting about her administrator, an unnecessary panic going through her department, and her classes acting like they were stoned. Since she can't smoke legally, I offered to buy her a decadent brownie instead to cheer her up, and we agreed to take my car."

"And the same thing happened at the car door?"

"No, this time we moved toward each other like it was the most natural thing in the world and we did it all the time, and we almost kissed. We would have kissed, but another car pulled into the parking lot and we pulled away from each other, like we'd almost been caught red-handed. I shouldn't have kept this from you, but I didn't know how to address it. Hannah experienced the same problem with how to address it with Reid."

"I bet you he knows, and that he's always known."

"He does. Reid confronted Hannah during their last trip to Vegas."

"Confronted? He was upset?"

"I'm using the adjective confronted. Hannah said they just talked. Reid and I haven't discussed it between us. That would just be too awkward."

"You know Hannah better than I do. Would it be awkward for her if I talked to her about this?"

"Of the two of us, she was the one more willing to find out if you knew. She planned on getting you very drunk during the beach trip so that you would be less likely to remember the conversation."

"When's the beach trip?"

"Spring break."

"March? Okay."

"Haley, you're taking this much better than I thought you would."

"I have faith in my husband, and also my friend and her morals, and I feel very secure in my marriage. Now tell me the rest. Tell me everything. You left off with a car pulled into the parking lot and you and Hannah pulled apart like you'd been caught red-handed. What happened next?"

After another swig of beer, Aaron told Haley about Hannah keeping her head better than he had. How Hannah brought up Reid's shooting exam, and her wording put her boyfriend first. They found that brownie, acted like nothing happened, talked like best friends, and when they finished their desserts, Aaron returned Hannah to her car at the gun range. She hopped out and waved goodbye. Without pausing, Aaron jumped into their next encounter, at the hospital, and how Hannah hit him in the arm because she was upset with his treatment of Reid on their last case, but was using that as an excuse because she was really mad about what happened at the gun range.

"Aaron, slow down, you're loosing me! What happened with you and Reid?"

This time Aaron did not drink any beer before he explained, with great intricacy and downplaying how bad the situation was, how he and Reid were held hostage with several others by the shooter, and by what means he got his ankle gun to Reid. Haley knew about the hostage situation, but he didn't want to freak her out again.

"Of course Hannah was mad at you! I understand that you had very few options and that was your best shot, but Reid is her boyfriend. She feels protective of him, you hurt him, and she was already upset about what happened at the gun range."

"Thank you for understanding."

"When did you two finally talk about what happened between you?"

"Immediately after she punched me in the arm."

"You talked about it there at the hospital? Before she came in to see me?"

"We had a pretty big fight about it, that moved into the stairwell when we started getting louder." Aaron paused and reviewed the pros and cons of continuing in detail, and the advantages of his immunity. "In that fight, a lot of what we had been thinking but not saying finally came out. The argument was a blowout. Everything we'd avoided for two years came out. All of her frustrations with me...and then I pulled her into the stairwell and pinned her against the wall as I explained how much I struggle with my feelings for her."

"You pinned her to the wall?" Haley tried to keep calm, but she felt torn between her desire to smack him, and a strange need to giggle at the absurdity of how she saw the fight in her mind.

"To get her to stop verbally attacking me and just listen to me. But then I almost kissed her again. That's when she commanded me to let her go and said that we needed to go see you."

"Give me the beer." Haley polished it off, then dashed into the kitchen for a second, which she did not offer her husband when she returned. "Keep going."

"We had more trouble after that fight than we had before because we finally talked about it, but didn't resolve anything."

"When was the next time you two had another run in?"

"Run in?" Aaron tried not to laugh at that. "Well, that's one way to look at it, though I look at them more like encounters. We had another encounter the night we wrapped the Arnold case. I stopped at her office. I needed to talk about what happened on that case, and though we were having trouble with our relationship, I knew I could still count on her to be there for me and listen. After I told her what troubled me about the case, I told her that we couldn't keep going like we had the last few weeks. We had to get our friendship back on track, and get past the rest of it. I also told her I choose you. She wasn't surprised to hear me say that. She wouldn't except anything else from me, and neither would I. It was more a formality than anything else. I felt that by saying it, I was putting that part of my relationship with Hannah to rest. But unfortunately, that didn't work out as I had planned."

"I could have told you that. You basically tried to take the easy way out. It doesn't work."

"Thank you Captain Obvious." Aaron rolled his eyes at his wife and received a swat on the arm for it. "It also didn't help that I made the conscious decision to kiss her."

Haley stiffened beside him and cocked her head to one side.

"You what?"

"I told Hannah I chose my wife and then I kissed her. I kissed her because it was going to be our only kiss, a goodbye kiss, but I think that just made things worse. By trying to close that door I think I opened it wider."

"Why, what happened after that?"

"Haley, if you're not going to finish that beer, I will."

"My beer. Keep talking."

"Remember when I came home with a bruised neck?"

"From when the mafia hitman tried to garrote you? How could I ever forget about that?"

"I went to Hannah's office before I came home."

"I figured you did. What happened in Hannah office?"

"Sexual tension." Aaron swallowed and started explaining the strange sequence of events that happened up through Reid showing up to ask his girlfriend out on a date. "It was clear then that we hadn't resolved anything, but I was too stubborn to see it."

"Hard headed. It works for you when you're on a case, but hurts you when you're not working."

"Agreed. I should work on that."

"Was your fourth encounter with Hannah? Or was that the fifth?"

"Fifth if I include the fight at the hospital."

"Include it. What was the sixth?"

"She had a fight with Reid, about his actions during the case in Texas, when Elle was a hostage on the train. He upset her and she refused to go home with him. Hannah went to the bar and text me, asking me to join her. I was almost asleep and didn't respond, but I knew where I would be able to find her the next morning."

"Over at Jenna's?"

"Yep. I stopped there before work and Jenna told Hannah and I that we could speak privately with one another in the study."

"How did that conversation go?"

"Very interesting. She was either still a bit drunk or very hungover and you know what happens to her inhibitions at that point. You've gone out bar hopping with her a few times."

"I've seen her get very flirtatious once or twice, depending on the kind of guy she runs into or if he happens to be an old flame. Did that happen in Jenna's study?"

"Hannah was wearing one of Jenna's bathrobes after Jenna dragged her into the shower. The conversation started off on the wrong foot when she ignored Jenna's directions to go to the study and tried to drag me into a bedroom. I had to drag her into the study, at which point she told me what she wanted to do in the bedroom and then untied the knot and tried to disrobe in front of me."

Haley laughed, the last thing Aaron expected.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Haley said once she could breath again. "That's just funny to me for some reason. Hannah, hungover, slipping out of her robe for you in Jenna's study!"

"Are you taking this seriously?"

"Absolutely." Haley took a deep breath and drank another pull from her beer. "Please continue. How did you handle Hannah disrobing in front of you?"

"I pulled her robe closed, and I did not look at her body. Not that there was much showing. I pulled it closed before she got very far in disrobing. She immediately started an argument about the mixed signals I sent in her office, when she was nursing my neck. Each time we think we've resolved the tension, we don't. We've been going about this wrong, and it's hurting us."

"How did you attempt to resolve the tension in Jenna's study?"

"By confronting it."

"The bathrobe?"

"No. When I offered her a lift home, she flat out told me that the longer she stayed in my presence, the more she wanted to cross that line we knew we couldn't cross, by removing her robe and tearing off my clothes."

"That was blunt."

"And then she proceeded to act on that desire."

"She what?"

"Hannah tried unbuttoning my shirt, so I did the only thing I could think of."

"Which was?"

"I tried sympathetic nervous system suppression, without even realizing I was doing that." Aaron explained when Haley looked confused. "I squeezed her arms against her side until she calmed down."

"Like cows in the chutes?"

"Yes."

"That worked?"

"For that instance it worked. Hannah calmed down enough to think straight, but that just led us to argue about the same things we'd been fighting about for months until we both admitted our strength may not last much longer. After that declaration there was nothing left for either one of us to say, so I left for work, she left for school, and we didn't speak to each other again for almost two weeks. I stormed into her office and asked why she'd been keeping Reid's nightmares from me. Hannah didn't even know about any nightmares, which led her to deciding that she needed to find out how much Reid knew about our relationship, and then she became angry when I refused to find out how much you know."

"Was this right before she joined him in Vegas?"

"Yes, and that's when Reid confronted her. He wasn't as upset as I thought he would be, but he told Hannah he'd been keeping his nightmares from her because he couldn't trust her not to tell me. That surprised us, but Reid and Hannah made up."

"They have a strong relationship. What was the seventh encounter?"

"Our seventh encounter included Hannah telling me that Reid's been aware of our relationship from the beginning, and me being an idiot by derailing what little progress we had made at that point by kissing her again."

Haley looked less than happy to hear that.

"That was stupid."

"I know."

"You're an idiot."

"I know, and Hannah would agree because she threw me out of her office after I did that. I have never seen her that angry, even when we fought at the hospital."

"She was mad because she felt that you were playing with her emotions."

"And I was, but not on purpose."

"Of course you didn't do it on purpose, but you still did it. If I was in her position, I would be mad too. How long before she talked to you again?"

"I stormed her office again a few days later."

"Storm. Very strong adjective."

"Why are you analyzing my adjectives? Only Hannah ever does that to me. And yes, I stormed her office."

"Why?"

"We hadn't resolved anything, and when I kissed her again I just made things worse. I was getting distracted by our situation, so after we returned from our next case in New Jersey, I went to talk to her." Aaron stopped for a few seconds and rubbed his chin, something he never did because it told Haley just how nervous he felt. "I still have full immunity?"

With concentrated effort Haley managed not to crease her brow in skepticism. Instead she nodded and gave him what he needed.

"Yes Aaron, you have full immunity. Now what happened?"

"The situation quickly spun out of control."

"How?"

Aaron explained his good intentions in going over to Hannah's office, her insistence they get out in public before they talked to avoid another kiss in the privacy of her office, how he lost control first and then she did, which lead them to make-out first against the office door, then on her loveseat before they began undressing each other-

"You what?" Haley tensed, afraid of what she would hear next.

"But Hannah got her wits back first and stopped us from crossing that line."

"Stopped you, you mean."

"Well, yeah. I instigated that, and she had to put a stop to it."

"And you would have gone ahead and fucked her if she hadn't said stop. Jesus Christ Aaron!"

"I've never heard you speak like that Haley. Ever."

"Well my husband just told me that he almost screwed his best friend's brains out on her office couch so what do you expect me to say?"

"We resolved our tension after that."

"How?"

For the first time that night, Haley sounded angry.

"We argued, put all of our cards on the table, said the things we had avoided saying because we were too afraid to say them," Haley didn't push for clarification so Aaron didn't give any. "and we ended up just sitting on the couch next to each other without the overwhelming desire to do anything else. We had resolved our tension."

"Entirely?"

"Perhaps not entirely, but the next time we saw each other, which was yesterday afternoon, we experienced practically no sexual tension."

"Practically? Explain."

"I touched her hands on our picnic table, and she told me not to touch her like that because she can't stand the lightning."

"I'm counting that as an encounter. You've had nine encounters. If you two were cats, you would have used up all your lives. If you two have a tenth encounter, after everything that has happened, I don't think either one of you will consider stopping."

"That was our last encounter! Hannah and I are fine now. You think this was comfortable for me, telling you everything? It wasn't. You gave me immunity, Haley."

"I remember smelling her on you, Aaron. When you came home after Jersey. When you took a shower I looked at your clothes and your shirt smelled like her."

"Haley, I only kissed Hannah twice and made-out with her once and I felt guilty for all of it. Okay, not the first kiss, the intentional kiss, but I feel bad for the rest of it. And why didn't you bring this up earlier? You said you were comfortable that Hannah and I wouldn't cheat, when in fact you were suspicious that we had."

"No, I knew that something had happened between you, but I didn't think you two had sex. Aaron, if I thought you two had slept together, I would have said so, and I wouldn't have bought you this beer so you and Hannah could cook burgers in the back yard. I wanted to talk to you about this ever since you came home with her scent all over you, but I was too nervous. And then you two were back to normal and it didn't feel like the right time to say anything."

"And tonight did?"

"You were tossing and turning in bed after having her over. It felt like time to confront the situation. Did anything else happen yesterday? Did you kiss her again?"

"No! Nothing happened except some uncomfortable electricity when I touched her hands."

"Then why did Hannah look worried when she left? She glanced at you and for a second she looked worried and then she looked normal again."

"That was something completely different than the sexual tension we've been dealing with. I feel like she's hiding something from me."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. This isn't like Hannah, to hold back anything from me. Our relationship is built on our proclivity to share everything with each other."

"Maybe the sexual tension has changed that."

"It's not like that Haley."

"From what you've told me about tonight, it seems that Hannah's presence excites you. Maybe it's the same for her and that's why your dinner in the backyard turned uncomfortable."

For five seconds Aaron thought about that before he answered.

"You seem to have forgotten that Hannah's presence also calms me."

Of course he saw the problem with that, he always had, and now Haley saw it too.  
"Not so much as of late, Aaron."

"We found a solution!"

"Just sitting with her is not the answer!"

"No, the answer is self-control, Haley. Hannah and I have that now and nothing's going to happen between us again."

"We all hope." Haley said before she abandoned her husband to sleep on the couch. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Hal-"

"Goodnight Aaron."

Once he heard the bedroom door close behind his angry wife, Aaron glanced in that direction and muttered.

"Well damn it."

* * *

Spencer felt a tension on Saturday with Hannah that he couldn't explain. She acted a bit moody, kept silent, and had come home from Aaron's two nights ago acting weird. The details she gave him were vague. Burgers, talked, fine. They sat in the kitchen Saturday evening after dinner, each reading a different newspaper while Hannah put on a teapot when Spencer decided to find out what bothered her.

"Did anything happen at Hotch's house?"

"Like what? That was a vague question."

"Anything that involves me bringing up rule three."

"Again?" Hannah said as she raised her eyebrows.

"Yes, again."

"Nothing happened that involves rule three."

"Then what's been bothering you since that night?"

"What makes you think anything is bothering me?"

"Because I know you better than anyone. What did you two talk about?"

"Aaron told me about Sarah Jane and Riley."

"He told you about them? The team agreed we weren't going to tell anyone."

"He confided it in me. He's done that for years."

"He shouldn't do that."

"You're right. He should just keep all that emotion bottled up inside him and keep me in the dark like you do when the team investigates a rape case." At that perfect moment the teapot started screaming, so Hannah got up to take it off the burner before she turned back to Spencer. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. You have opened up to me and I'm grateful for that. I just wish it had happened a lot sooner."

"Then you should have told me that Hotch was already telling you everything."

"He doesn't talk to me about you, at least not the way you think he does. That's not the way this works. Aaron talks to me about what's bothering him and that way he doesn't have to keep it inside or take it home to Haley. What did you think our relationship was?"

"Kissing in the privacy of your office." Spencer blinked, shocked by his own audacity. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

But Hannah turned her back on him as soon as he brought up the office kiss and busied herself with the tea. When he apologized, she took a deep breathe, but blew anyway.

"God damn it Spencer, when you're upset with me, just tell me. Don't keep it bottled up. I know I messed up with Aaron. He knows he messed up with me. You want to know anything, just ask me!"

The kitchen fell into silence for a few seconds, then Spencer took Hannah up on her offer.

"Did anything else happen between you two after we came home from Vegas?"

Hannah held steady as she sat down across from him. After a slow sip of the hot tea, she met Spencer's eyes and nodded.

"Yes."

"What happened after we talked about this in Vegas?"

"Aaron kissed me again in my office. I was so angry that he had done so that I kicked him out. I told you we weren't going to kiss again and then he went and kissed me again and I lost my temper."

"Was that the only thing that happened?"

"No. After the fight about Texas-"

"But that was before we went to Vegas."

"It's relevant. I slept at Jenna's that night and I was just as mad at Aaron as I was at you because he ignored my text message to come join me at the bar for a drink. He showed up the next morning to talk-"

"You already told me about that fight when we were in Vegas."

"I left out the part of the fight that was about our sexual tension. It was after the first kiss, which just made everything worse. He kissed me again after that child abduction case in Delaware, and after Vegas, and then the next time we talked, which wasn't until after the New Jersey poisoning, Aaron and I almost crossed the line in my school office."

"How?"

"It was a stupid mistake but we both stopped before we went too far. And you are not to bring this up with him. You'd probably make him die of shock if you mentioned it to him."

"Hannah, what happened in your office?"

"Aaron wanted to talk, and so did I, but I wanted to get out in public with him where he wouldn't kiss me again, and as I was yelling at him about kissing me twice in the privacy of my office, he went and kissed me again, but this time I didn't keep my wits about me. I couldn't. We started making out, locked the door, and ended up on the sofa before we regained our wits and stopped. Oddly enough, we haven't had any unbearable sexual tension since then. I think that incident broke the bubble. We had burgers in his backyard two nights ago and we were best friends again." Hannah blew on her tea and said, "Spencer, will you please say something?"

"Why didn't you tell me about this before now?"

"Because I felt like an ass for doing those things and thought if I kept quiet the guilt would go away, but I was wrong. I'm sorry Spencer. I never should have betrayed you and Haley or stayed silent about what happened."

"How does Hotch feel?"

"Like an even bigger ass. Don't be mad at him. I'll take it all from you, your anger, just don't take it out on him."

"I wouldn't take my anger out on him. We have a professional working relationship."

"Good. Keep it professional."

"How are you and Hotch going to conduct your relationship?"

"Respectfully. For each other, our friendship, and our significant others."

"If you two don't get a handle on this like you expect, you're both going to get hurt."

"I know Spencer!"

Hannah stormed out of the kitchen and left Spencer with two newspapers and cup of fresh tea. He picked up the tea and followed her out. She glanced at him as she walked up the stairs, and smirked when his cell phone went off.


	17. The Tribe

Chapter 16

**The Tribe**

"Something's been bothering you the last few days. What's wrong?" Spencer said as he packed his satchel before work.

Hannah glanced up from her tea and newspaper.

"Nothing's wrong."

"I'm a profiler Hannah."

"Yes, and that is very annoying."

"So tell me what's wrong so I don't have to profile you."

"Fine." Hannah closed her newspaper and pointed to the chair across from her.

Spencer sat.

"What's bothering you?"

"After Aaron told me about Riley, I almost told him about Mom's affair."

"Oh," Spencer's eyes bugged and he blinked. "That."

"Yeah, that."

"I'm a little surprised he hasn't figured it out already, actually."

"Spencer, not everyone is as smart as you. The only reason you figured it out is because you studied forensic anthropology and saw the differences in features when you met my whole family that first Christmas we were together."

"You also confided in me that your dad isn't your and Matt's dad."

"That to. But you knew before I could tell you. Aaron doesn't have that type of training and he's never met the whole family. He hasn't even met half the family."

"Why did you almost tell him?"

"Riley."

"But you know who your real dad is. He's not a killer like Riley's dad. He's actually a really great -"

"Matt and I suspect who our real father is but that doesn't matter to us because dad raised us. He's our father. The other guy didn't even bother to check in on mom once the affair was over. He moved on and remarried. And he probably never even realized we might be his. So don't tell me that he's a great guy. I'm already sick and tired of hearing my own parents talk about him like that."

Hannah kicked her chair back and left the kitchen. After a few seconds, Spencer heard the thunk of her work bag as it hit the ground, a soft curse, and then the front door as it opened and slammed behind her.

* * *

A couple hours later Spencer checked his watch and Hannah's class schedule taped by his computer. She had five minutes before another class, her last class of that day. He risked calling.

"Hi Spencer."

"Hi Hannah. I'm sorry about this morn-"

"Don't worry about it. It'd just rather not discuss it again, okay?"

"Okay. I wanted to let you know we caught a case out in New Mexico. We should be back in a few days."

The silence on the other end worried Spencer. They hadn't discussed her real father since Spencer first joined the team and he didn't remember her freaking out about it so much. But they were preoccupied at the time with avoiding a discussion on her relationship with Hotch.

"I'm not going to ask about the case right now because I have class, but you can tell me anything you need to when you get back."

"Thanks Hannah." Spencer said on automatic, rather than tell her he didn't want to tell her about the murdered college students, and that he didn't want Hotch sharing that info with her either. "I'll see you in a few days."

"See you and love you."

Spencer smiled. They hadn't used that phrase in a while. Several months in fact. Right before her birthday when the trouble started with Hotch and the lies began.

"See you and love you." Spencer said before he hung up.

After, he stared at the phone and wondered if Matt might explain her animosity towards their biological father. Then he decided he didn't want to risk Hannah's wrath.

* * *

The minute Spencer said bye and promised to see her again in a few days, Hannah grabbed her jacket and headed for the suburbs of Arlington. Her last class of the day had been canceled over a week ago, following a discussion with the students that revealed less than a dozen could come given activities most had for their scholarships. Instead of deliver an important lecture to five students, and collect a paper from said five students while outlining a new one to them, Hannah pushed the due date to the next week, canceled class that day, and sat on her outline. Also, she didn't feel the need to tell Spencer about her class cancellations. He didn't need to know everything.

She found her niece and twin nephews in the midst of a water fight on the front lawn of her oldest brother's house, rolled out the passenger door after she parked, and kept the car between her and the mischievous little ones.

"Come out with your arms raised high aunt Hannah!" Mia said in a maniacal voice that sounded creepy for her six year old self.

"I have a better idea. Let me pass in peace or I pull my famous kamikaze on all three of you and I toss you in the pool. How does that sound?"

"You may pass."

Hannah emerged from behind the car, but she didn't dare risk turning her back on her niblings as she passed.

"Where's your dad, misfit?"

"Drinking beer by the pool. The side gate is open."

"Thank you master."

"Where's uncle Spencer?" Brandon said, his squirt gun aimed at his twin brother Tucker, and Tucker's aimed right back at him.

"He's working out of town for a few days but he's still planning on taking you to the Ice Age sequel. Don't worry!"

The three squirts behind her with water-guns always made Hannah's heart a bit lighter. While she and Don fought like cats and dogs growing up, they could always agree that his kids were awesome. She even babysat them for free so Don and Tracy could have dates. He and Tracy married a few months after Hannah moved in with Spencer and they got busy making babies. After her niece's birth, Don wouldn't let Spencer come to the twin's birth, and no one seemed to mind that arrangement. Small infants terrified Spencer

"Hey pint!" Don said and broke Hannah out of her reverie as she approached the pool.

"Don't call me that Don."

"Want one?"

He held up an almost full six-pack of beer.

"Is the Pope Catholic?"

"Last time I checked." Don popped off a top and handed it over. "Here."

"Smithwick's." Hannah took a long pull. "Perfect."

"What brings you over? Did you get caught in that water war out front?"

"I threatened the kamikaze and they let me pass unharmed."

"Your kamikaze is terrifying."

"Thank you. I came over to talk. Will we have privacy?"

"Tracy's watching the kids from the living room and when they run this way they'll just jump in the pool, make noise, and ignore us when they aren't splashing us. So yeah, we'll have privacy. What do you want to talk about? And where's Spencer?"

"In New Mexico for a few days on a case. We got in a fight this morning. Actually it was a tiff. Okay, I freaked out him because I didn't like what we were discussing."

"Sounds like you."

"Shut up."

"What was the fight about?"

"Mom's affair and my suspected biological father."

"I've never told anyone."

"Except us. Thanks for turning our world on its head."

"Why are we talking about this now? You've avoided saying anything about it to me since the night I told you."

"That's why he barely spoke to anyone for over a week. We're all lucky Matt didn't run away from home."

"What do you call sleeping on the beach for a week?"

"He raided the fridge, used the shower and bathroom, and changed his clothes. That's avoiding the family, not running away from home."

"Have you two talked about this?"

"No. When he finally came home, he told me he never wanted to discuss it. Do you think mom and dad suspect we know?"

"Hard to say. You are a genius. And they still keep up the facade like it isn't one."

"Either they are in complete denial about us knowing, or they honestly think we don't know." Hannah finished off her beer in a few more gulps and stole another one. "You ever tell Tracy?"

"I've never told anyone else. I swear."

"Good."

"How long has Spencer known?"

"First Christmas. He saw through all Mom's bullshit."

"Mom's always been a great liar."

"Spencer's always been a great lie detector."

"What's the New Mexico case?"

"I don't know. I rarely know until they come back, unless the case makes more than the local news."

"You and Aaron still having sexual tensions?"

"It's questions like this that make everyone think you're an ass."

"You're my littlest sister and I want to know if he's taking advantage of you. Answer the question."

"We were having issues for a while but we resolved them. And no, we have not had sex, nor will we while he is married, and I don't want him to get divorced."

"So when did you kiss him and how many times?" He pulled up the six-pack in front of him in a defensive position as Hannah shot him a cold glare. "Hey, one thing I did pick up on from all of mom and dad's lectures is noticing what someone doesn't say. Spill."

"Three times and all in my school office, but that's over and don't you dare say a thing to Aaron!"

"What about Spencer? Do you want me to not say anything to him too?"

"Yes, I don't want you to open your jackass mouth to Spencer, and for your information, I already came clean to him about it."

"How'd he react?"

"He forgave me, but it's Haley I'm more worried about." Hannah stared into her beer for a quarter of a minute while Don stayed quiet. "I've screwed up. My rules are supposed to keep me from crossing a wife or a girlfriend, and now I've crossed a friend."

"Just assure her you're not going to sleep with her husband. Hopefully then everything will be fine."

Don grinned and two seconds later his kids tore through the backyard and cannon-balled into the swimming pool one after the other after the other. Three small waves attacked Don and Hannah's feet, and then a torrent of shouts and screams emanated from the pool as the kids splashed and grabbed at each other. Tracy stuck her head out the back door and yelled over the noise.

"Have fun Don! It's your turn."

This time Hannah grinned and tried to hide her laughter by taking a drink, but she spit it back in the bottle rather that lose it in front of her brother.

"Don, the entire family is grateful you decided not to go into psychology, because you suck at it." Over the lip of her beer bottle she added in a snark at a lower tone. "And we're all very grateful that Tracy doesn't think you're an ass."

Don snagged Hannah's beer bottle, tossed her over one shoulder, and after glancing at her purse to make sure her phone sat on top of it, he took two slow and lumbering steps towards the pool.

"I think the pint needs a dip!"

"No, don't you dare!"

Hannah pounded her fists into her brothers back and even tried to snag his underwear as a deterrent, but he flung her before she could, forcing Hannah to turn in midair and form a dive before she hit the water.

They had none this before.

She came up fuming and with a mouthful of water she spit out in Don's direction. Tracy stood a few feet away from Don, hurrying to the pool to make her the siblings antics hadn't hurt her kids.

"Tracy, I'm going to commit fratricide now." Hannah said while she pushed hair off her face. "Say goodbye to Don."

"Bye Don." Tracy said, then shoved Don into the pool.

He hit the water with the biggest splash at all. Tucker and Brandon giggled and shrieked. Mia swam over to her aunt and hung onto her neck, facing her.

"Aunt Hannah, what's fratricide?"

"When you kill your brother."

"Can I do that?"

"No, Mia." Tracy and Hannah said at the same time as Don resurfaced.


	18. A Real Rain

**DISCLAIMER: CBS owns all Criminal Minds characters. All OC characters, Hannah, Matthew, and their family, are mine.**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: My apologies for the five and a half month delay with the chapters. This one has been sitting in my computer almost done that whole time. Honestly, I've lost some interest in the story, at least with the pace of one chapter per episode that I set myself up with. I'm regretting that now. I do have some great stuff planned for future chapters, but I'm moving so slow! Now I'm wondering if I should scrap the chap/epi format. I don't know. Please read and review, and let me know what you think.**

Chapter 17

**A Real Rain**

Matt rolled into D.C. around midnight on a Tuesday and had to decide between crashing at his twin sister's townhouse with her boyfriend, or his eldest brother's house with his three kids and wife. He chose Hannah's. Just under ten minutes later he pulled into a spot across the street and fetched out his key to the house as he grabbed his overnight bag.

As his foot hit the outside landing, Matt remembered Hannah's revolver and Spencer's gun. He pulled out his cell phone and called their home phone. It rang three times on his end and he heard it through the windows before Hannah picked up.

"Matt, where are you?"

"On your front step. Can I let myself in with my key and not get shot?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay. Guest room is ready for you. Why the hell are you rolling in so fucking late?"

"Slight emergency back in Manhattan with a friend. I'll tell you about it in the morning. Go back to sleep. I'm letting myself in. Don't shoot me and don't let Spencer shoot me either."

"Don't make too much noise." Hannah said before she hung up.

Matt giggled and let himself in. As he walked through the house in the dark, he trusted that the furniture hadn't moved since he'd last visited. Then he walked into a recliner he didn't remember seeing before. Fishing out his keys again, Matt clicked on his key-chain flashlight and almost whistled when he saw the chair. For a second, he considered sleeping on it. Then he remembered the backache from the last time he fell asleep on a recliner and moved on to the stairs. Hannah popped her door open the moment he walked past.

"Boo."

"Geez!" Matt jumped and spun, his hand over his heart, but a grin on his face. "You're a jerk Hannah."

"Gotcha." Hannah glanced behind her, then slipped out of her room, closed the door behind her, and raced past Matt into the guest room. "Get in here Matty!"

"Do. Not. Freaking. Call. Me. Matty." Matt said as he walked into the bedroom and tossed his overnight bag at Hannah like a basketball.

She caught it, but the momentum still sent her flying back onto the mattress giggling.

"So what was this emergency that prevented you from leaving Manhattan at a sane time?"

"Drug overdose."

Hannah sat bolt upright, her eyes huge with horror.

"Who?"

"Chris."

"He relapsed?"

"Two weeks ago apparently."

"Rehab again?"

"Hospital program."

"Okay. How are you, besides that?"

"Tired, but my heart is racing now, thank you very much."

"You're welcome." Hannah cocked her head and smirked. "Are you ready to finally shave off your winter beard?

"Now? It's past midnight."

"I once shaved off your beard at three a.m. after a six-pack."

"Yeah, I remember that. Last spring was a _really_ close shave."

"I'm saying I'm sober and I haven't been in bed that long. You're taking off in the morning and I won't see you for at least a month. Do you really want Ally shaving your face?"

Matt furiously shook this head and turned a bit pale before his face broke into a grin.

"You still have the shaving kit?"

"How do you think I keep such silky smooth legs?"

"Keeping up maintenance on the blade?"

"Of course."

"All right. Let me jump in the shower for a few minutes and change into my sweatpants."

Hannah tossed back his bag and stayed on the bed until Matt closed the bathroom door for the guest room, then she listened for the click of the door that led into her bedroom. Once she heard that and saw the light shine through the bottom of the door, she tiptoed over and waited to hear the shower turn on and the stall door snap shut.

"Knock, knock, I'm coming in." Hannah entered without knocking and went straight for the mirror cabinet. "I got you those little bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash that you like. They're in there."

"I found them. Thanks."

"How is Lily doing with her treatments?"

"She likes her bald head more than the colored wigs we bought her."

Hannah's head shot up, her brow furrowed in confusion and amusement.

"Seriously? She loved it when we died her hair pink. What about natural hair wigs?"

"We took her to buy one last time I was home but she refused. Apparently she really likes her bald head."

"You have a weird child Matt."

"Thank you, I'm quite proud of her."

"She might possibly be weirder than you, if that's possible."

"That's not possible."

"How's her appetite?"

"Her oncologist said it's fine to give her one of my cookies before a meal, though he can't write her a prescription because Florida is stupid."

"She like those?"

"Oh yeah."

"You being smart about where you get your stuff?"

"Of course. The dealers are all good guys, not connected with the cartels at all, I only buy as much as I need, and I never carry over state lines. The country needs to get with medical marijuana laws already. It's almost enough to make me consider living in California again, expect mom and dad are there."

"Not to mention our annoying siblings."

"True, but at least Sam's in Washington and has connections with some awesome growers."

"That's cool, I didn't know that."

"Washington has a lot of pot farms."

"We won't be getting anywhere with medical marijuana until we get a liberal president and a liberal Congress."

"Fucking lobbyists and crony capitalists."

"Big tobacco pays big money to keep marijuana illegal."

"Spencer works for the government. What's his opinion?"

"Legalize it, tax it, stop prosecuting over it. Aaron thinks along the same lines."

"Hand me the sweats in the bag, will ya?" Matt turned off the water and snaked his arm through the ajar door to grab a towel. "By the way, Lily got a bone marrow match."

"What?" Hannah spun round, her arm in Matt's overnight bag. "Who in the family?"

"Give me my sweats." Matt caught them as Hannah tossed them over the shower door to him, pulled them on, then stepped out drying his hair. "Don't freak out, okay?"

"Why would I freak out? Is Don donating and he didn't tell me? Or Megan?"

"No. Him."

"Oh. He matched?"

"Last resort. No one else did. Not even me or Ally." Matt lowered the towel and studied his sister's still face, and her blue eyes from their mom. He inherited his brown eyes from their biological father. "He's not seeing her. I won't allow it. The donor and the recipient never have to meet."

"I know how a bone marrow transplant works. Spencer read everything he could find on the subject when Lily was diagnosed. Who called you about him? Mom or Dad?"

"Mom, and she still referred to him as a family friend."

"Sounds like mom. Are you ready to get rid of that beard?"

"Are you calm enough?"

"I'm calm." Hannah held her wrist out to Matt, who held it and placed his thumb over her vein. "See?"

After a quarter of a minute Matt determined Hannah had a heart rate of forty beats per minute, lower than the average person. She had an uncanny ability to slow down her heart rate when particularly angry or annoyed. Matt found it creepy as hell since he could tell she was doing it just by looking at her. He'd mentioned it to Spencer years ago and now Spencer liked to take her heart rate at random times to make sure she didn't have symptomless bradycardia.

Matt still swore she did it to be creepy.

* * *

Early the next morning Spencer walked into his kitchen, saw Matt, and did a double take.

"You let Hannah shave off your beard after midnight again?"

Matt nodded.

"At least she was sober this time."

"How do you know what time Matt got in last night?" Hannah said through a mouthful of scrambled eggs that Matt whipped up.

"Hannah," Matt looked over at his sister and smirked. "Shouldn't you know by now that when a cell phone rings in the middle of the night, Spencer's waking up wondering who died?"

"Morbid, but close," Spencer said, grinning. "Well put Matt. How long are you here?"

"Leaving after breakfast. Sorry. Long drive back to Miami and I'd like to make it home before midnight."

"That reminds me. I have something for Lily. I'll run upstairs and get it."

Spencer darted out of the kitchen but Matt didn't turn to look at Hannah until he heard him on the stairs.

"So are things really okay between you two after what happened with Aaron, or is it normal in the kitchen because I'm here?"

Hannah carefully finished chewing, her eyes staring daggers at her brother. She swallowed, then pointed her fork at him.

"I told you in confidence and I don't need a third party butting in, _Don_."

"Thems fightin words sister."

"Stay out of it Matt. Spencer and I are fine."

"And you and Aaron?"

"I will kill you."

"We'll see about that."

Spencer pushed the kitchen door open with his foot, a big wrapped present in his arms.

"Where the hell have you been hiding that?" Hannah said after she saw its size.

"Under the bed in the guest bedroom."

"I don't know who's more oblivious," Matt said to Hannah with a grin. "You or me?"

* * *

After the plane landed in New York, Morgan climbed into the drivers seat of the SUV and glanced at Reid in the rear view mirror.

"Hey Reid, how have you never visited Manhattan when Hannah's brother Matt lives here?"

"Matt doesn't live in Manhattan. He works up here and lives in Miami."

"Where does he stay when he's here?" Hotch said as he climbed into the passenger seat and closed his door.

"He stays at a friend's apartment."

"Hannah visits him here, doesn't she?" Hotch said over his shoulder.

Morgan glanced between the two of them, checked that they had Gideon, then started up the car.

"Hannah comes up to visit Megan and stays with her. They take Matt to breakfast or dinner when he isn't working on his recordings and go back home."

"You should go with Hannah next time she makes one of those trips. You need to take more advantage of your vacations, and go places besides Miami and Las Vegas."

"He's going to Los Angeles next week." Gideon said from the other seat in the back.

"Yeah, with you," Morgan said as he drove. "And for a seminar you two are running."

"I'll take him out for something fun."

"I'm sitting right here. I should have gotten in the girl's car." Spencer said under his breath then spoke louder. "For your information, when I am in LA next week I will be attending an art gallery opening for a high school friend."

"Oh, an art gallery opening. You know what that means Pretty Boy? Pretty girls aplenty. Need some tips on flirting? I know Hannah wouldn't mind."

Spencer stared daggers at the back of Morgan's head.

* * *

The team spent one extra night in Manhattan after Hotch shot and killed the unsub. The NYPD, not to mention the FBI field office, needed a statement from him and a weapons test on his gun for the forensic investigation. The field office took his gun and promised to streamline it. He returned to the hotel after the others and lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. After an hour Hotch grabbed is cell phone and scrolled through his contacts. He didn't have this number on speed-dial.

He called Megan Darrow.

On the first ring he breathed easier than he had since the shooting. On the second ring he felt joy at the thought of speaking with Megan. The third ring found him doubting that the conversation would help him, and the forth ring had him thinking simultaneously about Hannah and Haley.

Megan answered on the fifth ring.

"Aaron?"

"Can you meet me? I'm in Manhattan." Aaron said before he lost his nerve.

"Is this about the vigilante killer? The news says an FBI agent shot him. Who sho-" Megan paused and her voice changed in an instant to a more soothing reassuring tone. "I was you, wasn't it Aaron?"

"Yes."

"Does Hannah know?"

"I haven't called her. I called you. Can we meet?"

"Where are you staying?"

* * *

At about midnight Aaron stepped into the hotel bar and looked around for Megan. He caught sight of her at the table furthest from the bar top, by a wall and far from anyone else. They could speak there without fear of eavesdropping. Once Aaron checked the bar for any of his teammates and didn't see a one, he approached the table. Megan rose to meet him and they embraced after a moment's hesitation. His eyes swept over her light blue blouse, khaki skirt, and white church heels. A liberal choice of attire, but it suited her.

Megan looked a bit like her sister in the lips and jawline, inherited from their mother. The resemblance stopped there. Where Hannah possessed blue eyes and dark brown hair, Megan had rich brown eyes and natural blond hair, inherited from their father. She also stood an three inches shorter than her littlest sister at five feet five inches.

When Megan released Aaron from their embrace she gave him a light peek on the cheek and sat down. After a moment, Aaron remembered what he wanted to talk to her about and took the seat across from her.

"How are you Aaron?"

"I'm...I have mixed feelings about the shooting."

"Such as?"

"I need a drink first."

* * *

They stayed in the hotel bar drinking and talking for an hour. Megan even smooth talked the bartender and tipped him well for a fresh bottle of Dewar's Scotch.

Then they snuck upstairs to Aaron's hotel room. He and Reid had two rooms on the right, while the remainder of the team took up the rooms on the left side of the hall. His and Reid's right side neighbors checked in before the team arrived, and wanted street views towards the river. Aaron admitted the view wasn't half bad. As he tiptoed past Reid's room, Aaron signaled to Megan to stay on his left side. They made it in at a quarter past one in the morning without rousing anyone.

"Whose room was that?" Megan said in a soft whisper as she removed and deposited her heels under a chair.

Aaron took a quick peek out of the peephole but didn't see anyone. He set the bottle down on the dresser and kicked off his shoes.

"It's Reid's room."

"Did you really just sneak me past my brother-in-law?"

Her choice of words got Aaron's attention more than her shocked tone.

"Brother-in-law? Did he and Hannah elope?"

"What? No!" Megan started giggling and ended up half curled up in a ball on the corner of Aaron's bed before she finished. "They're common-law married. You know, joint bank accounts and both their names on the deed to the townhouse. I just refer to him in normal conversation as my brother-in-law because it's easier than explaining my little sister's love life. Though I get the strong feeling this is no longer a normal conversation, is it Aaron? Not after you just snuck me past Spencer's hotel room and into yours."

With a grin, Aaron uncapped the bottle and took a sip.

"Not much gets past you."

"I'm a therapist. You're a profiler." Megan motioned for the bottle and took a swig. "You called me, remember?"

"Need I remind you whose idea it was to bribe the bartender for this bottle of Dewar's after everything we already drank?"

"I did that on purpose."

Megan passed the bottle back. Just before it touched his lips, Megan said as she slid out of her pantyhose, bunched them up and shoved them inside her purse. Aaron lowered the bottle and stared at her in a mix of horror and curiosity.

"Megan, what are you doing?"

"Calm down Aaron."

"Calm down? After you just stuffed your pantyhose in your purse? In my hotel room?"

Megan paused as she rubbed her heel and stared up at Aaron.

"This isn't going down the road you think it is." Megan said as she jumped off the bed, stepped in front of him and took the bottle back.

"What road-"

"What are your intentions towards my little sister?"

"Excuse me?"

"Tell me that you're not going to bust my little sister's first rule."

"Hannah and I are not having an affair!" Aaron said a little too loud and glanced at the door.

"Then prove it Aaron. Convince me you have no ill intentions towards my sister."

"Ill intentions?" Aaron focused his attention back on Megan. "I would never hurt Hannah."

"An affair with Hannah would hurt her more than you can imagine. She may act tough and look tough but I'm her sister and I know how fragile she is."

"Believe me, I know how fragile she is too, and it has never been my intention to hurt her. I love her!" Aaron took a step back, his eyes filled with shock at his own admission.

Narrowing her eyes, Megan kept going.

"Then stop toying with her emotions!"

"_She _toys with _my _emotions!"

Aaron stepped forward as he swelled with a combination of anger and passion, forcing Megan to take two cautious steps back until her legs hit the mattress and she sank onto the bed. He swiped the bottle out of Megan's hands, collapsed into the chair, and drank until he needed to breathe. After a minute of pregnant silence, Megan starring like Aaron was a freshly unveiled statue and Aaron avoiding eye contact as he calmed down, Megan broke the quiet.

"My God. You're magnetic, aren't you? You and Hannah?"

"Yes!" Aaron said, again a bit too loud.

"Then you're both playing on very dangerous ground."

"Obviously. Now is this interrogation over or do you have something that will help us?"

"I can't help you. No one can help you and Hannah. Spencer can't help you."

"What does Reid have to do with this? Do you know what he knows?"

"I know their third rule, and so do you. If he asks, she has to tell."

"How much has Hannah told him?"

"That's not my job to find that out, Aaron, it's yours. You and Hannah created this mess."

"Then what exactly are you doing here Megan?"

"Listening to you unload about your cases and finding out that you and Hannah are magnetic!" Megan stood up and paced along the end of the bed. "All I can say is don't sleep with her unless Spencer and Haley both give their permission, but I doubt even that will help. In fact, it may make it your situation worse."

"If that's all the advice you can give me then I think we're done."

Aaron reached under his chair, grabbed Megan's high heels, and handed them over. The bottle he kept.

* * *

Spencer paced in his room, walking from the wall he shared with Aaron to the wall he shared with the stairs. An empty water glass sat upside down on his bedside table. Spencer grabbed it from the bathroom when Aaron first shouted in the next room, but he hadn't used it against the wall to listen in. That's why he paced. That, and the image of Aaron sneaking Megan by the room, glancing at Spencer's door, his hand motioning her to stay on the far side and stay quiet.

At one in the morning, the sound two people made walking down the hallway was anything but silent, try as they might. When Spencer peeked out through the peephole he saw the bottle of liquor and the glaze in Aaron's eye. Megan stumbled too, and not from her heels. Spencer once saw her sprint in heels, chasing an older brother who snatched her phone. An hour later after a few drinks she couldn't walk a straight line in them.

When he heard Aaron's door open and close and the sound of one set of feet in the hall, Spencer looked through the peephole again. Megan walked in bare feet, her stride straighter than before. She slowed, stole a glance at Spencer's door, then picked up her pace and disappeared into the stairwell. Spencer counted to sixty then opened his door.

* * *

The light rap on Aaron's door sounded familiar, but the scotch made his mind too fuzzy too think about that. With the bottle still in hand, he rose out of the chair, stumbled toward the door, and prepared for the coming argument.

"You come up with useful advice Meg-" Aaron stopped when he saw Spencer standing there, still wearing yesterday's clothes and looking wide awake.

And distressed.

"We need to talk Hotch."

"Could it wait until we're back in D.C?"

"No," Spencer said with a final tone. "I know Megan was here and I would rather have this conversation with you when you're not sober."

"That would be easier." Aaron backed up and sat on the bed. Spencer closed the door behind him and took the chair. "Are you going to tell Hannah that Megan was here at the hotel?"

"I wasn't planning to. Why was she here?"

"I needed to talk to someone."

"Normally you call Hannah."

"I couldn't call Hannah with this one."

"So you called her sister?"

"Megan is a licensed therapist."

"I know, I just don't understand why she was here in your room."

Aaron stared at Spencer, not blinking, and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees.

"Do you think I slept with her?"

"Of course not Hotch, I'm just trying to figure out why you needed to talk to her in your hotel room when there's a bar downstairs."

"I met her in the hotel bar. After I got everything with this case off my chest, she bought a bottle of Dewar's from the bartender and convinced me to bring her up here to talk some more, but once we got up here she started asking me about the last few months with Hannah." Aaron studied Spencer for any sign of surprise knowing he wouldn't see any because Spencer already interrogated Hannah about the relationship. "I know Hannah told you. Or did you invoke rule three and make her tell you?"

"Rule three."

"How did you react when Hannah told you what was going on?"

"Hotch, I knew about you two since Hannah and I joined the team at your house for our first barbeque, but I didn't start to worry about you and Hannah until shortly after Jack's birth."

"That's about when all of this started going crazy, but it was a few weeks before his birth that it started going sideways." Aaron remembered he still had the bottle in his hand and set it on the floor. "Megan called Hannah and I magnetic."

"Because you are. Neither of you can help it. The magnetism is what made me realize what was going on as early as that first barbeque."

"What do you suggest we do?"  
"You both need to back off."

"How? It's not like we haven't been trying."

"Considering what she's told me, I don't believe either one of you have been trying very hard to break this off."

"What did Hannah tell you when you invoked rule three?"

"Everything."

When Spencer didn't say anything more, Aaron became paranoid.

"Please define everything."

"The gun range, the hospital stairwell, the fight in Jenna's study, the argument after you injured your neck, the first and second kiss and you two making out in her office. There's more, but those were her highlights."

Aaron still didn't blink. Spencer noticed and wondered how the hell he managed not to.

"She really did tell you everything." Aaron picked up the bottle and drank two gulps before setting it down again. "I've told Haley everything too. All of it."

Spencer blinked, surprised.

"When?"

"The night Hannah and I barbequed. She already knew what was going on, but she wanted to know exactly what was happening and offered me immunity in exchange for the whole truth."

"That was smart of Haley."

"I haven't told Hannah yet that I've told Haley."

"Not smart. Hannah's been upset that you wouldn't come clean with your wife."

"Well I have now."

"But Hannah doesn't know that." Spencer paused. "How did Haley take it?"

"How well did you take it?"

"I freaked out a bit to be honest."

"I slept on the couch. For just the one night." Aaron glanced down at the bottle then up at Spencer again. "Are you worried about Hannah and I?"

"A little. I know this has been freaking her out. She wants to go in full reverse, her words, so I suggest you do the same or she'll have no choice but to avoid you to protect herself."

"Protect herself from what? Me?"

"You've been physical with her."

"We've both been somewhat physical but not overly-"

Spencer put a hand up and stopped him.

"Aaron, the fight in the hospital stairwell and in Jenna's study, and the two of you making out in a Georgetown University office with students in the hallway are the three incidents that concern me most. Those were all very physical confrontations. Both of you need to back off of each other right now before this goes too far – before this goes any farther. I suggest only seeing her in public until the two of you are back to what your normal state was before this chaos started."

"How is it Megan knew to question me about this?"

"Megan questioned you because Don knows and he told her to question you." Reid stood and walked to the door but turned back with his hand on the doorknob. "And you need to tell Hannah that you've told Haley."

"I'll find a time when we get back."


End file.
